Cal's Training Journal

[Jim Ouini]

Funny, 'cause we started at the exact same time. Tonight was my last session of the volume phase as well, and my knees have been pretty beat from work and training, and I'm starting to get very run down. Deloading sounds fun.

As others before me have said, 1st week of deload is like a holiday. I'm still feeling OK after having just completed week 7, next 2 wks I go for 1/3 x 3 maxes so I'll have to play it by ear.

I'm around 183 now after big dinners... throughout the day I'll be around 178-180, and in the mornings I'm a nice 176. Height is still the same

I skimmed through this thread, you started at, what, 160? So ~20lbs after 1.5 cycles, and more to come. Nice.

I plan on running a 2nd cycle after I finish this one so I'm interested to see if the gains slow down or just continue on.

BTW very nice form on deads 'n squats

 

[super_rice]

when i began i was 160 after dinners... so i was actually like 155 ish. so yeah, 20lbs.

it's a hellava added physical advantage - ie when getting hit, or in any kind of body contact sport. it feels completely different. the only negative is i'm not at the low body fat i was once at.

i "played it by ear" as well in the last two weeks of intensity. the weights did not change systematically - which is fine.

the 3x3 i didn't really bother with huge increases, but the 1x3 attempts were really fun.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Any idea of how many calories you were eating since the beginning of the first cycle? 20 lbs. is impressive. If I recall, you don't count calories, but would you care to post up a typical day's diet?

 

[Jim Ouini]

the only negative is i'm not at the low body fat i was once at.

At end of Wk 7 I'm up ~12 and I do feel a bit of chub as well. Mostly I think it's a result of having to shovel food in my mouth all the time to meet my daily caloric requirements, so my stomach always feels pretty full.

At least I hope that's what it is

i "played it by ear" as well in the last two weeks of intensity. the weights did not change systematically - which is fine.

the 3x3 i didn't really bother with huge increases, but the 1x3 attempts were really fun.

I"m going up 5lbs per week on just about all my lifts in the intensity phase. For my wk 8 and 9 max attempts I may jump up a bit more depending on how I feel, especially since I may try some singles.

 

[super_rice]

i've laid out my daily diet before, this was from march 27 i believe:

to give you the jist of it, i began as a 135# vball player, so i can pretty much eat anything i want and do well off it (though now that i approach the 180 mark i have noticed that i needed to cut out the junk, which i have).

basically, on school days i'll have a glass of milk and croisant with a block of creame cheese (literally a block) and/or a bagel or something, around 10 or 11 i'll have a big sandwich of some sort (roast beef, corn beef, chicken, turkey, whatever), then another sandwich similar to that an hour or two later (a little smaller though). go home, have some more cold cuts and some fruits (basket of grapes, 2 apples, a banana, whatever), have a large dinner around 6 (usually 40oz steak with mashed potatoes or ribs or chicken wings or a whole chicken... those ones you get from the stores whole...)

then i'll have more cold cuts as the night goes on, and milk.

i don't count cals or grams of anything, i just eat it.

my diet is not at all strict. when i recognize that i need to gain weight, i eat whenever i can. when i need to lose, i drop some snack sandwiches here and there, and up the weekend sports.

with this volume phase i should have broke 185 easily (i went from 175 to 180 i am now in two weeks), but i didn't eat heavy and did a lot of stuff in the first two weeks. plus, i had some food poisoning, etc.

so my diet is a facet of my training i need to start to focus on. i don't even take protein powder. i think i do get enough food, the only two things would be:

1) regularity - my diet is irregular and some days i'll eat like a madman, while others (like today) i get in like two meals.

2) quality of food - i'm starting to move away from the "you are allowed to eat everything since you weigh nothing and have 8% bf" body type, so i may have to start to watching the stuff i eat

 

[coolcolj]

don't get too caught up in trying to get heavy, I made that mistake, and I am having a hard time going back down, without losing my gains that is

 

[Madcow2]

don't get too caught up in trying to get heavy, I made that mistake, and I am having a hard time going back down, without losing my gains that is

Excellent point. Some many people are interested in getting big, something that really isn't as hard as it would seem given the amount of people in the gym having issues getting there. But I'll tell you what, after a certain point it's not exactly desirable. How many SHW's, linemen, and even retired BBers drop weight after retirement (I'd assume strongman too)? I know of few that don't.

I think I made an anaology a few months ago that every young kid looks at a Ferrari and wants one. Later on in life that same young kid is able to go out and purchase that car only to find that it becomes a fairly unused weekend only vehicle. Although the man might really love driving the Ferrari from time to time, what he really wants is to be comfortable stuck in traffic on his daily commute. Unfortunately, you can only own 1 body at a time so you have to balance out the utility you get from each. Personally, I could weigh a lot more if I felt like it and when I'm training hard (seemingly rare of late) sometimes have issues keeping my weight down. I would definitely recommend taking a good look at your favorite activities and what you like to do and keeping your weight in a range. You've proven to yourself that you can get big and strong, pretty much at will so don't get carried away unless there is some real tangible purpose that is important to you. Maybe that's 220, maybe that's 175 - either way, it should be approached as an objective decision.

 

[super_rice]

thanks guys. with something like 5x5, it's great, i can run it as i start to cut the food i eat.

personally, i like the young competition dimas look. my old bodyfat level at a weight 5 pounds or so heavier than i am now. somehow i doubt i'd be as strong as him though

plus, if i get up to 200s (which actually seems plausible now), i would probably not be able to play volleyball again. see what happens, if i make it onto a university team, i will likely have to drop weight, back down to say, low 170.

it's strange though i feel like i'm hooked or something. i really don't want to stop eating and start cutting. my girlfriend however is definately not digging the current look

 

[Madcow2]

You also don't need to make a severe or militant change. Right now, given an increase in BF, you are eating a bit much (as I understand it's not a sudden realization or something that krept up on you). Just scale back a bit. Don't cut meals but cut a little portion or high calorie content here and there. When spread over a day and a week a little here and there goes a long way and really impacts caloric intake. It's not necessary to do massive bulking and severe cutting. Just notch it down a bit and see what happens. Plus, the more muscle you gain the more it will eat into any caloric excess so you might find a slight downward adjustment to be exactly what you are looking for. Of course, maybe you want to really cut and that's fine too but I thought I'd make the point that it doesn't have to be black or white.

 

[super_rice]

i'm planning on simply not over eating or forcing food down. a lot of meals, i'll be full, then have another bowl of rice or pieces of meat to top it off. should work.

on another note, take a look at the transformation!! i looked much better last year, but i was a lot weaker.

http://img41.echo.cx/img41/7128/comparison04054yt.jpg

hey, i'm also wondering... am i gonna have these nipples forever? i mean, shit, they're supposed to go away when puberty ends - i'm almost 18 hah.

edit: i'm sad now i didn't take any pictures of myself in december. i was lean like a marathon runner then