William Wallace's 13-Weeks to Turkey Day Bulk

[William Wallace]

Not a very good way to end the week. Didn't make it to the gym on Friday and took a long needed weekend off with Da Guys. That meant - alcohol and even more nights with not enough sleep. So this week, I plan to hit the gym with a vigor, and I have so far.

Yesterday was shoulders and triceps.

Shoulders:
Standing barbell presses 3 drop sets
Bar X 10 Warmup
85 X 8 + 65 X 8 + Bar X 8
125 X 6 + 85 X 6 + Bar X 6
135 X 4 + 95 X 4 + Bar X 4 (new record)

Barbell rows (smith machine) - I hate these
50 X 8
90 X 8
100 X 4 - felt nerves pinching in my upper back so stopped
50 X 8

Barbell front raises
40 X 8 Warmup
60 X 8
80 X 8
80 X 7

Standing machine shrugs (whatever they're called)
90 X 12 Warmup
180 X 10
270 X 10
320 X 8

Standing Calf machine shrugs
Don't recall weights but to failure

Triceps
Dips
Weight X 12
Weight + 50 X 12
Weight + 50 X 10

Close Grip Decline Bench
Bar X 12
95 X 10
145 X 8
165 X 8

Lying Decline Old School Dumbbell Extensions
25 X 2 X 8 Warmup
40 X 2 X 8
50 X 2 X 8
50 X 2 X 6

Analysis:
Diet could have been better. But wasn't bad. I ate a little dirtied today. A whole pizza from California Pizza Kitchen for lunch and a late late night visit to Waffle House for Chicken and Eggs.

Water intake was roughly 3 liters. This can also be better.

[William Wallace]

Today Legs:

Wide Leg Squats (free weight)
Bar X 10
135 X 8
225 X 8
315 X 8
365 X 4

Leg extensions superset with lunges
Don't remember exact weights but remember last set was full stack (255) X 5 followed by another full stack X 4

Sitting leg curls
Also don't remember exact weights.

Calf machine raises
90 X 15 full + 90 X 15 partials
90 X 12 full + 90 X 12 partials
90 X 10 full + 90 X 10 partials

Analysis
3000 calories according to fitday. I really lacked the carbs today. I will need to force feed in order to grow. Possibly prepare my meals the night before if I'm going to be successful.

About 3 liters of water. Actually no, most of the water intake was in the form of black tea (no sweetener). Caffeine = diuretic.

Sleep was absolutely horrible last night. 4 hours. If that. I think this is why I feel a cold coming on. Tomorrow is an "off" day. Praying that it doesn't turn into a full fledged cold.

Need to make a lot of changes in the diet and sleep.

[William Wallace]

Was sick for the past couple days. That seems to happen a lot after an intense leg workout. So then I have a double whammy of my body trying to repair and trying to recover. Spent the last 2 days in bed. I tried to be diligent about supplementing with Glutamine. We will see how effective that was. The plan is to take one more day off then hit it again tomorrow.

[William Wallace]

Wow. Has it been 10 days since I filled out my journal?

Was sick for 2 more days. So did not make it to the gym until Monday the 16th. Though this wasn't as soon as planned, I have to pat myself on the back for even getting back in. Usually after a cold, I regret having to go back into the gym knowing that I have lost muscle from being sick. That turns into excuses and laziness followed by a 2 month hiatus followed by disgust at myself followed by going back to the gym starting at square one.

Anyway, last week was fairly good except for a couple nights that I did not get adequate sleep. But I still managed to get in all major muscle groups. I did not take down adequate notes, but milestones I remember:

Chest:
Increased decline bench to 315 X 2 after pyramidding up. Considering that 315 X 2 was my previous record on the regular bench press 3 years ago, this was a good milestone.

Back and Bicep:
I've decided to move biceps to the same day as back since many back exercises also work the biceps. Was able to preacher curl 110 X 5 (110 being the largest preassembled curl bar weight at the gym).

Shoulders and Triceps:
Did standing shoulder press drop sets. Felt pretty good so I achieved a drop-set of 145 X 4 + 95 X 4 + 45 X 6 after pyramidding up. The 145 X 4 is a new peak.

Legs:
Did a quick leg workout yesterday consisting of smith machine squats, leg extensions, seated leg curls, and calf raises. I reached a new peak on the smith machine squats of 380 X 3 but that may be a Phyrric victory since my left knee isn't feeling too hot. We shall see.

Assessment:
After trying one of these 13 week programs twice in the past, this is the first time where I haven't given up after the 2nd week. It helps to know that someone you know personally is reading your journal and says to you "Hey, you haven't updated your journal in a while. Are you still working out?"

Now going into week 5 I feel pretty good about the gains I have made. Through muscle memory (I assume) I am back to most of the peaks I had 3 years ago. According to the scale, I have gained 2 pounds. Not as much as I had hoped by now, but I have been eating fairly clean and not nearly enough. I am still having trouble with the amount of food I need to eat and the amount of sleep I need to get but all in all, it has been a good first 4 weeks.

Changes to be made in this 4 week period:

Increase of carbs - I have added at least one more serving of oatmeal and 2 cups of brown rice to my planned diet.

Increase in fat - Stop being lazy and take those 2 tbsps of EFA's every night before bed.

Decrease in alcohol: I had some planned events that involved some alcohol (ok, a LOT of alcohol). But I don't foresee any excuses in this next 4 week period.

Increase in sleep: Lately averaging about 4-5 hours. This CAN'T be good. Even if that has been enough to sustain muscle growth, it is effecting other areas. Goal is to increase this average to between 6 and 7 (realistic goal).