Going Ape Shit

It's about time I made this happen. I'm relying on the familamb here at SS to help take me to the next level.
I'm about 4.5 weeks into bulking now, following a carb backloading diet. Finding I'm putting on minimal fat and some very slow gains, so I'm happy.
Didn't lean out as well as I wanted this summer, and strength def suffered because of this. I've never been the strongest guy in the gym though. I also didn't get as big as I wanted last year, as I couldn't keep my calories progressively increasing. This won't happen this time around.

Following a 6 day, 9 week power/volume routine right now. I'll probably have to write out the routine daily or upload a screen shot. Can't seem to host the file anywhere. Training is between 9 and 10pm.

A rough calorie/macro breakdown looks something like 3616 calories, 239g protein, 294g carbs, 156g fat.

Supps: Creatine HCL, All-In, Peptopro, Carboslin, Erase, Swanson Probiotic-4, Swanson Immune Essentials, USPowders 1-Carboxy, Raloxifene.


I'll try and get some current starting pics up tonight. For now let's look at some food.

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4 eggs, 2 slices American cheese, peppers+onions, 2 slices of porkroll. Added in the 4th egg last week to keep those calories moving.

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Decided to make some carb free sloppy Joes for lunch. About 8oz 85/15 ground beef per a serving.

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Chicken pinini from work. Even the fresh motz is made inhouse on these things.

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Some good ol' Greek yogurt loaded with sugar. The poptart I added in this week. Just don't feel I'm getting the calories I need.

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2 servings of fruity pebbles. We were to poor for the name brand cerial as a kid. That extra milk as part of the backload too.

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Lastly, some blueberry pancakes made with a scoop of blueberry muffin whey from our good friends at PN.

That covers most of it except my Post Workout shake, Intra-shake, AM Accelerator Shake, and last meal cottage cheese.

Make it a total of 8 whole eggs every morning cooked in coconut oil.
Add a whole avocado to your sloppy joes
Eat 2-3 chicken pininis for lunch.

I'd also add in red potatoes to your dinner with some kerry gold butter or organic butter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by O_RYAN_007

Make it a total of 8 whole eggs every morning cooked in coconut oil.
Add a whole avocado to your sloppy joes
Eat 2-3 chicken pininis for lunch.

I'd also add in red potatoes to your dinner with some kerry gold butter or organic butter.

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Love this post, except for the red potatoes. I hate potatoes, period....unless they're sweet potatoes! Those are some big ass paninis.....I dare you to eat 3. lol

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Originally Posted by BoneDaddy

Love this post, except for the red potatoes. I hate potatoes, period....unless they're sweet potatoes! Those are some big ass paninis.....I dare you to eat 3. lol

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I love potatoes, always have always will, I don't like the taste of while potatoes anymore though. Red and sweet potatoes for me!

Paninis are huge. We sell them by the half. I'd say I would tap out at 3 and that wouldn't be easy. Alot of bread there.

The panini is my first meal after my PWO shake. I slam all my carbs in about 1.5-2 hours.


I'll def add an avacado in a few weeks when I need more calories. I can't eat 8 eggs though I don't really like eggs at all. 4 is my limit for now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grape Ape

Paninis are huge. We sell them by the half. I'd say I would tap out at 3 and that wouldn't be easy. Alot of bread there.

The panini is my first meal after my PWO shake. I slam all my carbs in about 1.5-2 hours.


I'll def add an avacado in a few weeks when I need more calories. I can't eat 8 eggs though I don't really like eggs at all. 4 is my limit for now.

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I'm not an egg fan myself, but I can church them up and get them down. I'll make a wrap of some kind and add hot sauce and a lil bit of honey.....nom

I've been eating 7 whole right now scrambled with and organic mexican cheese blend, some tomatillo sauce, and 1/4# of grass fed ground beef. ITS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To drink, I'll have a kale and frozen berry (all organic) smoothy with water. Maybe milk (raw) if I need more cals.

Could get some pasteurized egg whites and drink them babies for the extra protein instead of four more eggs. Also O_Ryan you man after my own heart. Love coconut oil to cook in and Kerry gold mother of god that's good butter.

Grape your diet looks a lot like mine last winter when I bulked it should do you good.

Man I don't like kerrygold at all, tastes weird!

How about some organic valley..

Cooking in coconut oil is nasty too, I only take spoonfuls or put it in shakes!

Every morning my farm eggs are cooked in either butter from the farm, or coconut oil. They sell the butter really fast, so it's either organic valley, kerry gold (which my farmer loves when they don't have their own butter) or farm butter.

As far as the pinini is concerned, add triple meat.

When i first started using coconut oil, i didnt like it much, but I just figured I'd get used to it... Which I did, I love the stuff!

Hit shoulders tonight around 9pm.
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Did my first 3 sets of DB cleans, and that was enough for me. Really exhausting exercise. Used 60lb dumbbells which I feel is pretty good for only my second time doing these. Awkward exercise for my body type. Finished the last two sets with standing barbell press. Hit 3x140lbs for both. Best press ever was 1x170lbs, so working my way back up. Rest of the workout went well.

Really enjoying sipping my peptopro inbetween sets. Mix up 12g(3 scoops) with a scoop of Gatorade powder and 16 oz water. Drink half durring, and half on my way home.

Diet was on point so far today. In about 15 minutes I'll start my backload.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by O_RYAN_007

I love potatoes, always have always will, I don't like the taste of while potatoes anymore though. Red and sweet potatoes for me!

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My mom goes crazy with potatoes all winter so expect to see them quite often this winter. Roasted, baked, mashed, potato pancakes, home fries etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eden

Grape your diet looks a lot like mine last winter when I bulked it should do you good.

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Thank you. I'm really loving the carb backloading. Still astonished at the foods I've been eating.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by O_RYAN_007

As far as the pinini is concerned, add triple meat.

When i first started using coconut oil, i didnt like it much, but I just figured I'd get used to it... Which I did, I love the stuff!

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Usually throw some extra chicken and a piece of cheese when I get the chance.

I put my coconut oil in my coffee as recommended by Keifer. Would have no problem cooking with it though. I love coconut and the oil taste great. Should I be measuring it out in solid or liquid form though?

Pics will have to wait till tomorrow night.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by O_RYAN_007

I've been eating 7 whole right now scrambled with and organic mexican cheese blend, some tomatillo sauce, and 1/4# of grass fed ground beef. ITS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To drink, I'll have a kale and frozen berry (all organic) smoothy with water. Maybe milk (raw) if I need more cals.

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love eggs and this sounds like a bad ass meal. wish i was that motivated to add the shake/drink on top off all that..

I wish I had the money to eat all organic and farm fresh like some of you guys...Some day.

Had some left over chicken from a roaster so threw a few pieces in my eggs this morning.

Working a double today, and all weekend so had to switch up the lunch.
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Organic baby field greens, grilled chicken, hot peepers, 1000 islands
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Grilled chicken parm

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Dynamic work was done with 145lbs with 45 second rests. Not terribly hard.

Hit 165lbs for my three rep max on the close grip bench. 110lbs on my 3 rep barbell curl. Little bit of a swing and back arching on the last two reps.

Need to start working on my grip strength. More than apparent when curling the heavier weight. Same with the heavier hammer curls. Forearms need a good deal of work too. Long neglected.


Still waiting for someone to be home that can take some pics for this log. Should be Monday at the latest.

Weekends are crazy. Been working 12/13 hour shifts.

Went to the gym early saturday as I have no choice. Was pressed for time so only made through the first few exercises. Dynamic squat went well. Pulled 300lbs for my 1RM on the rack pulls. Felt pretty easy, but my lower back was sore for most of the day after.
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Got out of work early(10 hour shift) to go see Jim Gaffigan in AC, so didn't get to eat how I wanted. Had about 9 hour fast, and only came in at a little over 2,000 calories.

Yesterday's eating wasn't so hot, and again I was left at only slightly over 2,000 calories.

Today everything is on track. Hitting the gym in a few hours.

Yesterday's workout went well.
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Decided to barbell bench as all the DB benches were taken up, and I didn't feel like lugging DBs across the gym. Hit 230lbs for my 1RM which was ten more then the last two weeks. Felt real good. I've never benched over 250lbs.
Used a 35lb plate for my pull ups on the first 3 sets and a 25lb plate for the last 2. Hit all 5 reps on each set.
Rest of the workout went well.
Went out to eat last night with some friends at a local Mexican place. Ordered a steak quesadilla. This replaced the pinini in my backload. Everything else stayed the same.
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Got some starting pics taken on the fly. Wish the back pic came out better, but beggers can't be choosers.
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Now I crave Quesadilla so bad :(

Nice goal grape! And I'm digging the meals. How many times a day do you usually eat btw? And you said you work 12/13 hours shifts. You go with all your meals? maybe protein shake as well? Just curious

13 hour shifts have just been recent. They will drop back down to 10 hours soon...hopefully. Their only 3 days a week anyway.

I'd say I eat 3 meals as far a whole foods go. Breakfast, lunch, and then my backload. Intra and post shakes around workout time.

I'm usually about 6-7 hours fasted before I train. The All-In gets me through it, but surprisingly the fast doesn't bother me. Don't really notice it much. The large ammounts of fats must keep me satiated.

I'll update tonight's training soon, and thanks for checking the log.

This is a long overdue update. Been so busy.

Tuesday
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I found out about 3 weeks ago that 12 weeks of just box squaring didn't translate
into a strong back squat. Where my box was up to 315lbs, my back was pathetic.

Went about 20lbs to heavy on my first 5 rep set. By the 3rd rep I felt something pull on the right side of my lower back. Knew I was going to have to take ot easy from there. Still squared 240lbs on my 1RP. Not too bad. Best ever is about 275lbs.
I've really come to like the dead squats. Real fun exercise, and I can move some heavy weight here.
The one leg press has to be maybe the most intense leg exercise I've ever done. Just hard as all hell. I like it though.
Diet was on point.

Wednesday: just some abs, calf and forearm work today nothing special. Diet was on point. Real hard to bend over from the back twerk.

Thursday: I hit shoulders again. Same workout as last week. Did the 3 sets of DB clean jerks, and then the 2 sets of barbell presses. Weight went up about 5lbs on each felt real good. Back felt much better, but not 100%.

Friday: used 150lbs on the dynamic work. Arms went well.
Switched up my lunch and had some chicken salad with bacon. Then added some extra grilled chix and 1000 islands when I was down to just salad.
http://s9.postimg.org/kyd2in267/IMAG0169.jpg Injury was pretty much healed up here.

The weekend: calories were low again. Need to get my diet situated here. Hard with all the work I'm doing, and then my social life has been picking up. Diet was around 2,500 calories. Missed my Saturday workout, wanted to push it off to Sunday but had a terrible night's sleep.

Monday: Gym closed, diet was decent. Maybe more around 3,000 calories. I'll bench today instead. Have an old friend coming through to lift with me.

I'm in the third phase of this 9 week program.
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I'm new to floor presses. Had some trouble stabilising the bar, and only managed 200lbs on my 1RM.
It was nice to switch from weighted to BW pullups, but I found myself pretty exhausted by the 3rd set, struggling to get 5 reps. Must have been the higher reps, as I'd usually still get 5 with 35lbs on added onto me.
Everything else went smooth.

Diet was on point - a few 100 calories. Forgot to snatch up paninis so I swung by Wendies after the gym and grabbed a chicken sandwich. Not my usual, but we can all agree that this is a calorie game.
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Wednesday
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Everything wen't well. Legs felt real easy, and getting ATG was smooth. Still only hit 240lbs on my 1RM but all weights felt easier. Def can jump up some weight hopefully next week. The superset at the end was a little different for me. Never have I done a good morning squat. I find good morning awkward to do to begin with, but I powered through this pretty easily. Used 90lbs for all 3 exercises(18 reps).

Getting sick of my usual diet for the first half of the day. Switched breakfast to FPR's carb free frenchtoast for the day. Then had two cheese dogs(no bun) for lunch. Lunch was mostly because I was pressed for time. Thinking of adding a hot dog to lunch daily now for the convenience and extra calories. My grill has been broken so I've been getting tired of cooking burgers inside. They never come out as good. Sloppy Joes got old quick too.
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Finding I haven't been getting in my cottage cheese or Coconut oil lately, so going to start tracking my macros in this log. That'll give me a better idea.of where things need to change.

Good updates, and good idea about tracking macros just so you know.

Thanks for checking in. I'm def counting on guys like yourself to help me make this my best year for growth.

I have an app on my phone I used to get the initial macros in my intro, so really shouldn't be a problem. Def just need to keep the calories climbing over the next few months.

Are the screenshots of my workouts big enough to see? I'm on my phone, so IDK how it looks from a desktop.

I think the screen shots are a little small. I like the idea of the screen shots as you don't have to type everything out. I'd say just make it a tad bigger if you can so we can all follow your training a little better.

I'll see what's good on my desk top tomorrow. Like I said, the screen shots are from my phone, so IDK how that translates.

Long overdue update

Floor presses have been amazing fro my strength. I can't say yet how it will translate into my flat bench, but my floor press has jumped an easy 15-20lbs. When I go to do my flat bench of 5 reps after exhausting myself on the floor I'm hitting more weight than I was previously for my 5 rep max.

Squat has gotten stronger too. The weight I twerked my back on is now my standard 5 rep max. My 1RM has been sticking the last.3 weeks, to the point I need a spotter to help me on the positive of the lift. Love watching myself squat lower(ATG) than anyone in the racks around me. I get some stairs from people around me, even for the relatively light weight.

Military press is sticking hard all around. Hopefully ill be pressing 170lbsx1 soon again. Last year my military press was increasing every week with no stop in sight.

My schedule at work has been real hectic. Switched to 60 hour work weeks With 10 hour days; 10am-8am. As soon as I have a replacement I should have weekends off wich will be phenomenal for my Saturday training. Finally be able to start deadlifting with some consistency again. Def need work here. Need to get my posterior chain work underway. No ham glute machine or place to perform reverse hyperextentions. Anyone have a suggestion?

Monday I will start this same 9 week traing cycle over again. Really loved it. Decided to get some SNS X-Gels. Try subbing some ARA into my diet. Matt Porter was def infavor of it for hard gainers.

Diet wise I'm pretty on point. Calories between 3-4k. Should be more than enough for my 170-175lb frame. Can't even believe I'm easily getting in this high calories. Been going over macros and calorie counts endlessly in disbelief, but they add up. Loving the Carb Backloading. Added in a slice of pizza 1 hour preworkout as my fatty carb meal PWO as suggested by Keifer. Added a hot dog as well as a grilled chicken salad to my already cheeseburger lunch. Still having trouble fitting in some cottage cheese. Just need to extra 10 minutes.in the am. Always pressed for time though. Body fat that seemed impossible to put on with this style of dieting is finally adding up with such high calories.

Today: 4,286 calories, 193F, 358C, 268P

Some awesome backloading meal pictures coming soon!

Been sick the last few days. Incidentally it came at a time when I had just ran out of my immune essentials. Disappointing that my extra elderberry, grean tea, Vit C, and Vit D couldn't keep this off.

Still working a 60 hour work week, so by the time I'm done a 10 hour shift I've been to tired to train. Hopefully I shake this by Tomorrow and I can get in some squatting and pressing. Did some easy chest and back on Monday. I wasn't feeling to bad then.

Calories have been low but I can't be fucked to eat more the 2,000-2,500 calories. Just get home from work and sleep 10 hours or so.

Being sick sucks, but I can't wait to start killing it again soon!

Feeling about 90% better today. Feels good, and I should have my calories 3000+ today. Tomorrow It's back to 4000+.

Friday, I got to the gym. Pushed myself a little to much to get there but took it light. Just squats and overhead press.

Squat: 10, 6, 4
Standing Press: 12, 6, 6

How's the heavy cal treating you these days? Your metabolic rate got used to it I bet!

I feel you on the Posterior Chain work. I envy the powerlifting gyms which have all these specific equipments to really target the needed weak areas.

Try reverse hypers on the medicine ball on a flat bench, youtube it. I love that exercise. Pull throughs. Weighted decline situps with emphasis on the negatives. And a lot of Good mornings and Stiff Leg Deadz