So here I am at the next chapter in my lifting journey. (Previous chapters here, here)
I feel that a fresh log is required as quite a bit went on in the last one and that it's become a bit of a mish mash. For those that aren’t familiar with the training style/philosophy I’ve adopted of the years Dante Trudel sums it up well.
Full quote:
This also ties in with what Dorian Yates said in part of a documentary I have seen:
Cliffs: I train for strength & size. Depending on the time of the year one may take priority over the other but the two are inter-related and I don’t neglect either. Correlation isn’t linear but nevertheless exists. Strength progression is also easily gauged where as size is not so straight forward.
Background
I’m fond of higher frequency lower volume work, I haven’t trained a traditional bodybuilding ‘split’ in coming up to 4 years now. Full body, push/pull or upper lower for me. I’ve also used powerlifting programs such as the Ed Coan Deadlift Routine and Smolov Jnr for bench. I dabbled with Russian Masters Squat Routine but coupled with the other two something had to give. Hypertrophy Specific Training, Doggcrapp and PHAT have featured recently too in my programme and in the last year I’ve been at my strongest ever. Mobility work makes regular appearances both as a preventative to injury and to maintain flexibility.
2014 PB’s @ 93-95KG
Bench – 150KG
Squat – 210KG RAW
Deadlift – 222.5KG
Total: 582.5KG
2014 PB’s @ 86KG
Front Squat – 150KG RAW
If you’ve been following I’m now sitting at 85/86KG at approximately 12% bodyfat, 5’10 height.
Diet
About 5 years ago I discovered Intermittent Fasting, it suited me perfectly. I like big meals, found eating every 2-3 hours stressful and unsatisfying and don’t over eat as a result. Last year CBL crushed my aversion for carbs and I now realise their importance for growth. IIFYM has also made an appearance during my recent cut, helping to keep me sane, and will be staying with me moving forward (also paying attention to micronutrients too).
Foods I demolish include:
Beef, Steak, Turkey, Chicken, Ostrich, Kangaroo, Zebra, Horse, Boar, Veal, Ham, Pork, Salmon, Mackerel, Tuna, eggs, egg whites, nuts, raisins, cous cous, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, oats, pitta’s, white rice, pasta, cottage cheese, greek yoghurt, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, spinach, kale, peppers, avocado, beetroot, apples, pears, pineapple, strawberries & other mixed berries, bananas, bread (white & wholemeal), mushrooms, green beans, mange tout, protein pancakes, homemade pizza, almond milk, cheeses, low fat cheesecake (homemade) etc etc
Some of the IIFYM:
Chocolate, frozen yoghurt, pop tarts, cake.
Between 10-15% of my diet would be typically 'dirty' processed IIFYM foods but that said most of my ‘sweet’ choices are home made so the only really processed things I’m eating at the moment are listed above.
A small /nohomo thank you to Maxeh for forcing MyFitnessPal on me. I've never meticulously tracked my diet and as a result always drastically underestimated when bulking and overestimated when cutting. Also IIFYM has re-sparked my passion for good tasty food, not necessarily unhealthy just because of the IIFYM label. I always disregarded spending reasonable time prepping a small meal as a waste and ate food very much as a means to an end, bland and boring, but now I actually enjoy food a great deal more. So yeah, thanks, phaggot.
Inb4bent.
Plans:
To slowly reverse diet from my current macro’s:
Training: 190P / 70F / 240C Rest: 190P / 100F / 130C
Up to some respectable ‘slow/lean bulk’ numbers:
Training: 220P / 70F / 400+C Rest: 220P / 100F / 200 C
The purpose of a slow reverse is to allow the bodies metabolic rate to properly utilise excess nutrients and carbs. Jumping straight up to 400g carbs would result in a good few lbs of fat gain. Ultimately I should be able to maintain my current bodyweight on a larger number of calories than I was previously, I can accurately establish my maintenance intake and hopefully make good progress without massive unnecessary fat gain.
It should take me until the 23rd July to reverse up to my off day macro’s and 350g of carbs on training days, where I have a week holiday (I'll be conscious but still enjoy myself
) and on my return will take another 3 weeks to hit 400g+ adding 20-25g of carbs a week / upto 5g per training day. Fats & proteins will be bumped periodically to maintain % ratios.
You can see what the taper looks like here:
And my current AM weight and 7 day moving average here:
Supplements
I use minimal amounts of whey at the moment, usually just a single scoop PWO (previously 3) and a pop tart instead of dextrose. I like eating my calories now, sure it's a little more expensive but I like eating.
Training:
For the moment I will continue with PHAT, consisting of 4 days a week. An upper and lower ‘power’ day consisting of heavier weights and generally lower volume for the main compounds with some assistance work. And then an upper and lower ‘Hypertrophy/speed’ day working a little speed work on main compounds but mostly more traditional hypertrophy based assistance, rep ranges etc. It’s worked well during my cut, managed to maintain & increase strength in some areas so I'm keen to see what it delivers in a surplus. Flexibility & variation is something I took away from Doggcrapp as being important for progression and PHAT very much allows this to continue. (I like to try and get one session in a week in a fasted state + BCAA's, benefits of which can be found on the leangains website.)
I will probably venture back in to Doggcrapp in September (when the ‘magic’ starts happening) but I would also like to run Coan & Smolov Jnr again so in essence I’m not quite certain but what I’ve been doing has been working so if it ain’t broke...
Cliffs:
Preparing for swole.
I feel that a fresh log is required as quite a bit went on in the last one and that it's become a bit of a mish mash. For those that aren’t familiar with the training style/philosophy I’ve adopted of the years Dante Trudel sums it up well.
Full quote:
I believe he who makes the greatest strength gains [in a controlled fashion] makes the greatest muscle gains. Note that I said strength gains. Everybody knows someone naturally strong who can bench 405 yet isn’t that big. Going from a 375 bench to 405 isn’t an incredible strength gain and won’t result in much of a muscle mass gain. If someone goes from 150 to 405 for reps, that incredible strength gain will equate to an incredible muscle mass gain. Ninety-nine percent of bodybuilders are brainwashed that they must go for a blood pump, and those same 99% stay the same year after year. It’s because they have no plan. They go in, get a pump and leave. They give the body no reason to change. A power-bodybuilding game plan stresses continually getting stronger on key movements, and the body protects itself by getting muscularly larger. If you never get anywhere close to your ultimate strength levels, you will never get close to your utmost level of potential size.
This also ties in with what Dorian Yates said in part of a documentary I have seen:
Cliffs: I train for strength & size. Depending on the time of the year one may take priority over the other but the two are inter-related and I don’t neglect either. Correlation isn’t linear but nevertheless exists. Strength progression is also easily gauged where as size is not so straight forward.
Background
I’m fond of higher frequency lower volume work, I haven’t trained a traditional bodybuilding ‘split’ in coming up to 4 years now. Full body, push/pull or upper lower for me. I’ve also used powerlifting programs such as the Ed Coan Deadlift Routine and Smolov Jnr for bench. I dabbled with Russian Masters Squat Routine but coupled with the other two something had to give. Hypertrophy Specific Training, Doggcrapp and PHAT have featured recently too in my programme and in the last year I’ve been at my strongest ever. Mobility work makes regular appearances both as a preventative to injury and to maintain flexibility.
2014 PB’s @ 93-95KG
Bench – 150KG
Squat – 210KG RAW
Deadlift – 222.5KG
Total: 582.5KG
2014 PB’s @ 86KG
Front Squat – 150KG RAW
If you’ve been following I’m now sitting at 85/86KG at approximately 12% bodyfat, 5’10 height.
Diet
About 5 years ago I discovered Intermittent Fasting, it suited me perfectly. I like big meals, found eating every 2-3 hours stressful and unsatisfying and don’t over eat as a result. Last year CBL crushed my aversion for carbs and I now realise their importance for growth. IIFYM has also made an appearance during my recent cut, helping to keep me sane, and will be staying with me moving forward (also paying attention to micronutrients too).
Foods I demolish include:
Beef, Steak, Turkey, Chicken, Ostrich, Kangaroo, Zebra, Horse, Boar, Veal, Ham, Pork, Salmon, Mackerel, Tuna, eggs, egg whites, nuts, raisins, cous cous, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, oats, pitta’s, white rice, pasta, cottage cheese, greek yoghurt, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, spinach, kale, peppers, avocado, beetroot, apples, pears, pineapple, strawberries & other mixed berries, bananas, bread (white & wholemeal), mushrooms, green beans, mange tout, protein pancakes, homemade pizza, almond milk, cheeses, low fat cheesecake (homemade) etc etc
Some of the IIFYM:
Chocolate, frozen yoghurt, pop tarts, cake.
Between 10-15% of my diet would be typically 'dirty' processed IIFYM foods but that said most of my ‘sweet’ choices are home made so the only really processed things I’m eating at the moment are listed above.
A small /nohomo thank you to Maxeh for forcing MyFitnessPal on me. I've never meticulously tracked my diet and as a result always drastically underestimated when bulking and overestimated when cutting. Also IIFYM has re-sparked my passion for good tasty food, not necessarily unhealthy just because of the IIFYM label. I always disregarded spending reasonable time prepping a small meal as a waste and ate food very much as a means to an end, bland and boring, but now I actually enjoy food a great deal more. So yeah, thanks, phaggot.
Inb4bent.Plans:
To slowly reverse diet from my current macro’s:
Training: 190P / 70F / 240C Rest: 190P / 100F / 130C
Up to some respectable ‘slow/lean bulk’ numbers:
Training: 220P / 70F / 400+C Rest: 220P / 100F / 200 C
The purpose of a slow reverse is to allow the bodies metabolic rate to properly utilise excess nutrients and carbs. Jumping straight up to 400g carbs would result in a good few lbs of fat gain. Ultimately I should be able to maintain my current bodyweight on a larger number of calories than I was previously, I can accurately establish my maintenance intake and hopefully make good progress without massive unnecessary fat gain.
It should take me until the 23rd July to reverse up to my off day macro’s and 350g of carbs on training days, where I have a week holiday (I'll be conscious but still enjoy myself
) and on my return will take another 3 weeks to hit 400g+ adding 20-25g of carbs a week / upto 5g per training day. Fats & proteins will be bumped periodically to maintain % ratios.You can see what the taper looks like here:
And my current AM weight and 7 day moving average here:
Supplements
I use minimal amounts of whey at the moment, usually just a single scoop PWO (previously 3) and a pop tart instead of dextrose. I like eating my calories now, sure it's a little more expensive but I like eating.
- Whey
- Dextrose (occasionally)
- Creatine Mono 5g - dat der.
- Pre WO (16g BP mix consisting of the usual BA, Cit Mallate, AAKG, BCAA's, caffeine + I add in 3g Taurine & 5g Glutamine.
- Glutamine 5g PWO & 5g Pre Bed
- Leucine 3g PWO/with every meal (2-3 times a day)
- Quest/Protein bars - occasional treats
- Vit C + Zinc
- Calcium
- Vit D
Training:
For the moment I will continue with PHAT, consisting of 4 days a week. An upper and lower ‘power’ day consisting of heavier weights and generally lower volume for the main compounds with some assistance work. And then an upper and lower ‘Hypertrophy/speed’ day working a little speed work on main compounds but mostly more traditional hypertrophy based assistance, rep ranges etc. It’s worked well during my cut, managed to maintain & increase strength in some areas so I'm keen to see what it delivers in a surplus. Flexibility & variation is something I took away from Doggcrapp as being important for progression and PHAT very much allows this to continue. (I like to try and get one session in a week in a fasted state + BCAA's, benefits of which can be found on the leangains website.)
I will probably venture back in to Doggcrapp in September (when the ‘magic’ starts happening) but I would also like to run Coan & Smolov Jnr again so in essence I’m not quite certain but what I’ve been doing has been working so if it ain’t broke...
Cliffs:
Preparing for swole.
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