Commanding My Body

[misterjaydubyoo]

Beefing them shoulders up!...haha. Nice push press PR. Also nice on the 20 rep deads. I bet that sure was fun, haha.

19 pounds in 17 weeks is excellent progress as well.

[Commander]

Originally Posted by misterjaydubyoo

Beefing them shoulders up!...haha. Nice push press PR. Also nice on the 20 rep deads. I bet that sure was fun, haha.

19 pounds in 17 weeks is excellent progress as well.

I'm trying.

I've tweaked my focus on Push Days to be more towards shoulders to help with the visual appeal of being wide.

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My Father-in-Law looked at me post workout and suggested I enter a local contest. He has attended Pittsburgh bodybuilding contests and he said that I already had a better physique than some of the competitors. However, "better than some", is not enough. For me to shave and put on trunks, I would have to be shredded, and I am definitely not shredded. Legs in particular need a lot of work, plus still holding some around the waist.

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Pull Day

Bent Row
120 (plus 15) 195x3, 205x3
160x12

Chin-up
BW, +15, 30, 45, 55, 65x5 - PR
BW+15 x 12

Bent Row
110x10, 2 sets - made both of these two sets last 30 seconds, using pauses on the top and slow eccentrics

Decline Reverse Crunch
BWx14, 3 sets

Barbell Curl
70x10, 6, 5

Jump Rope
10 x 1 minute intervals

Farmers Walk
234 x 6 sets

Not sure how far I went, but the first set was definitely over 100 meters. I use straps, I am not concerned about forearms on these, I am trying to get some bonus trap stimulation while getting the cardio benefits.

Man, I really enjoyed the farmers walk, it is totally mental. I didn't fail muscularly on one set, which in a sense, is a failure on my part. I need to get tougher, not to say that I didn't push it hard, because I did, there was burning and straining, but I never truly reached a point where the weights pulled me down due to exhaustion....next time, increase the weights and push it harder.

While the weights I used at this workout don't look special, I continue to hit PR's and feel great in the gym. I never imagined feeling this way on a calorie deficit. I feel almost unstoppable right now. It is such an awesome feeling.

Tonight will be a day off because I work a midnight shift, no point killing my body when I won't get to rest/recuperate.

[Commander]

Dead tired right now from working a midnight shift last night, kept myself awake by playing Civilization III, super fun game.

Weighed in higher than I’d like the last two days, it has me slightly frustrated. In trying to read more about dieting, I found information from Lyle McDonald about the "whoosh." This is the concept that sometimes your fat cells empty themselves of triglycerides only to temporarily fill up with water. Thus, giving you the effect of no progress, since the mirror and scale look the same. However, refeeds, especially a refeed where you don't consume much water, can sometimes trigger a "whoosh" whereby the water gets pull from the fat cells and either dropped or pulled into muscle cells.

I feel like my diet is on and so is my training, so it was comforting to think that there may be a logical explanation for my stagnation/slight increase in weight. And of course, it could be that I am simply taking in too many carbs! But I don’t think that is the case, because up until recently, I was dropping weight just fine at my carb levels.

I actually want to reintroduce 1/3 cup of oats at breakfast (17.5 g carbs), I took it out a few weeks ago and I think that was a mistake. I really believe my body needs (at least) that little bit of carbs in the morning. So tomorrow will be a dry refeed and after that I will add the 17.5g carbs back into my regular mornings and cut those 17.5 grams from paraworkout since I have plenty to spare there.

Final note, part of me wants to diet until I am shredded with no set date, but another part of me wants to get the diet over with (I have been dieting for over 17 weeks). I am thinking that maybe if I set a deadline, 5 more weeks for instance, than I can get more hardcore if necessary because there is a definite date by which I must achieve my leanness.

[Commander]

Finally starting to lose some fat off my legs.....how do I know? Well, my pants are fitting looser in the thighs now, not just the waist.

My wife saw me wearing a pair of jeans that was form fitting at 200lbs, and now getting loose in the thighs and she said, "Wow, you don't fill those out anymore." I couldn't tell if she was knocking me or complementing me, lol!

However, I KNOW it is fat, because last night, at my lowest bodyweight in over 2 years, 180.0, I set new PR's in the deficit and snatch grip DL, so I must be maintaining my muscle!

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Leg Day - Low End Deadlift

Cambered Bar Deficit Deads
263 (plus 30) 383x5
413x5 - 5 lb PR - no belt!

Snatch Grip Deads
291 (plus 20) 371x3
391x3 - 5 lb PR - no belt!

Good Morning
70 (plus 20) 170x5
120x15

Did something different with jump rope today, instead of moderate intensity jumping, I did high intensity high stepping while jumping rope.

10 second intervals followed by 10 to 15 seconds rest. 15 intervals.
Done in about 6 minutes, felt awesome.

[Commander]

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I am getting really excited to bulk again. I think I can do it more successfully than last time.

Future bulk plan:

Spreadout vs. Concentrated Carbs - I am considering using Layne's carb suggestions; 10% breakfast, 35% pre workout, 20% during, 25% post and 10% spread around other meals (from this dieting article) to guide my next bulk.

It is much easier to use his numbers while on the lower end of the carb scale, however, I am wondering if maybe I gained too much fat on my last bulk because as my bulk had more carbs I drifted away from his approach and instead went with a more spread out carbs approach.

Now as I get into really high carb amounts (400+), this will mean an enormous amount of carbs for dinner (pre) and right before bed (post) because I work out in the evenings. However, as I thought about it, I think this is a good thing.

Previously, towards the end of my last bulk, I was taking in very large amount of carbs for breakfast, AM snack, lunch and PM snack and very little at night. Those meals is where the difference will be on my next bulk. I already eat a fair amount of carbs for dinner and during workout, so no worries adding a few carbs there, however, I will now be adding in some post workout which is my pre-bed meal roughly speaking.

I previously strayed from this but now I wonder why? I just finished a hard workout (withIN the last 2.5 hours anyway) and I am trying to add muscle, why not give my body the carbs when they are best equipped to handle them. Why eat the enormous breakfast hours and hours later when my body isn't as ready to use them? I will still eat a moderate breakfast, just not as large, but the 2nd main difference (aside from the pre-bed feeding) will be the snacks and lunch. Why eat all the carbs during the day when I am at a desk job and not doing anything strenuous?

So, in the end, when comparing the same amount of carbs, I am going to go with the Layne Norton-style percent system over the even spread this bulk and see if it keeps me leaner. Added bonus, I have never really carb cycled on a bulk before, with the exception of the fact that my paraworkout nutrition meant workout days were higher than non-workout days.

Now I never really know if I am going to get to workout on any given day, with two children and me trying to be a good dad, sometimes that takes precedent. However, given my previous bulk plan and the fact that I workout in the evenings, I have already consumed tons of carbs/calories by that point which may have caused additional fat gain on my bulk.

With my new plan, most of my calories and carbs will come in the evening when I know if I am going to get a workout in. So I can tailor my nutrition to my workouts. I can actually refrain from the excessive carbs on days where I won't get a workout in, or take in less if I have to do a shortened/less intense workout. I am really excited.

To summarize what I see as the benefits (while I know the benefits listed below sound completely obvious, but once you get over 400g carbs, it gets pretty difficult to manage them all):

1. More nutrition around workout
2. Less calories during low activity portions of the day
3. More flexibility to carb cycle, have lower carb days on off days

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Current plan to finish off my cut:

1. Cut Paraworkout sugars in half
2. Cut out Paraworkout sugar completely - I think I can get away with this since I eat a massive dinner 1 hour pre-workout. Plus, it would only be short term.

I haven't decided how I will implement these; i.e.
A) waiting for weight loss to stall or
B) automatically implement them at weekly intervals

[Commander]

Pull and Leg days having been going well lately and today was a push day, but I wasn't pumped up for it since they have been so mediocre lately. So I needed something to get me pumped for Push Day, well, I found it, it was called myo-reps and it is similar to DC or other rest pause training. It was a break from my normal training and I really enjoyed tonight's workout.

Basically, rest pause for 10 seconds, until you can't get 3 reps, then rest pause for 20 seconds until you can't get 2 reps without them grinding.

Push Day

Standing OH Press (strict)
warm up
120x10+3+3+3+2+2+2

Dips
BW+50x10+3+3+2+2

Standing OH Press
110x9

Dips
BW+25x12

2 Arm OH Ext
52x10+3+3+2+2+2+2
42x9

Tricep Pressdowns

[Commander]

Pull Day

Pullup
BW, +20, 35, 50, 65, 80x3 - 5lb PR
BW+30x11 - PR

T-Bar
130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180x5
145x15 - PR

Farmer's Walk - using 100 more pounds than last time, still almost made it as far, this time I was close to actual muscular failure, legs got pretty wobbly!
334 x 6 sets to failure

Incline DB Curl
26 x 9, 6, 6

Ab Wheel
BWx15, 10, 10

Cardio today was going hiking with my family (and dog) for about 75 minutes and taking a 50 minute bike ride with my family later in the day. Good times.

Pull Days continue to rock, I'm loving it.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, woke up at 178 today! New low!

[HardCory]

I'm enjoying how much research you're putting into your cut and future bulk. You mentioned Layne's suggestions for carbohydrate intake throughout the day, I'm sure you've read his article on protein as well. My question is have you tried implemented that into your diet, if so did you any difference from the typical bodybuilding diet of 5 of more small meals?

[Commander]

Originally Posted by HardCory

I'm enjoying how much research you're putting into your cut and future bulk. You mentioned Layne's suggestions for carbohydrate intake throughout the day, I'm sure you've read his article on protein as well. My question is have you tried implemented that into your diet, if so did you any difference from the typical bodybuilding diet of 5 of more small meals?

Thanks, I enjoy it too, I LOVE reading about this stuff, outside of God and Family, Fitness is my passion!

I've definitely read his article on protein and I have implemented that almost from day 1.

I eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and pre-bed snack, so 4 main meals. I use BCAA's to stimulate protein synthesis halfway between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and dinner. I don't use the protocol between dinner and pre-bed snack because that is usually when I get my para-workout nutrition.

This next bulk will be a little different than my last, but I plan on putting his research to work then as well and trying to prevent refractoriness with BCAA between protein feedings.

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Diet Update:

Bodyweight average last week: 181.0
Average this week: 179.9

Very happy to hit the 170's for my average. No need to change my macros since I felt like I was dropping pretty consistently. Adding the moring oats back in mid-week was definitely the right thing to to do.

I've read that as you get leaner, the faster you see results (i.e. losing 1 pound when you have 10 to lose is more visible than losing 1 pound when you have 30 to lose), and I feel as if this is happening. My calfs and thighs progressed nicely.

Triceps and lower back are my main upper body holdouts in terms of fat. Chest was my fattiest area when I started but I am pretty happy with it now. Still have some fat to lose on my butt and legs, but as I mentioned, I am finally seeing some progress there.

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Worked a midnight shift last night, I'm beat, I was off yesterday visiting with my Aunt who was in from Hawaii, probably off today to go to bed early and catch up on lost sleep due to the midnight shift.

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Feeling some nice DOMS in my triceps from the myoreps workout on Friday night, plus great DOMS in my biceps from the incline curls on Saturday. I love having sore arms.

[HardCory]

What is your BCAA brand of choice?