Bernard Hsu
01-10-2008, 10:54 PM
I am a 19 year old lifter who has been lifting for 2 years. I played football in high school my senior year of high school (got my ass kicked everyday) and took up lifting seriously after a local SLP bench/deadlift competition in June 2007.
I started reading everything I could about training and nutrition, and I came upon AtLargeNutrition. I had tried some supplements when I started lifting with my friends. Some EAS whey protein, some generic fruit punch flavored creatine, GNC mass gainer, Xport whey isolate mix. I saw progress from these supplements, but there was something missing. I used these supplements at a time when I was losing weight (during football season in late 2006) and I had no idea why my weight kept dropping. Nothing could stop my weight loss. My lifts were being negatively affected. At this time, I had a 205 bench press for 2 reps, 225 squat for 3 reps, and a 315 deadlift for 1 rep, all at a whopping 151 pounds.
Fast forward to June 2007 at the bench/deadlift competition. I got a 255 shirted bench press and a 405 suited deadlift at 165 pounds, 18-19 year old division. In the gym, I had a raw 225 bench for 1, and a slow 365 deadlift for 1 raw. Needless to say, 2 people did worse than me in the bench: a seemingly untrained woman who competed only for the sake of her husband and a 5 year old boy who was there because his dad set a state record. From this point, I decided I needed just more protein in my diet to make my lifts go up. From this, I consumed about 92 grams of whey protein a day. In August 2007, after consuming all that whey protein for 2 months in a row, my lifts made minimal gains. My deadlift was still 365 for 1 and slow and my bench was 245 for 1 and I was at around 170 pounds.
So enough of the backstory. My first semester at college, I read an article about PWO, and its importance. It linked to AtLargeNutrition. I started to become interested in all of their products involved in gaining mass. Everything on the website, from the research statements on the product page to the customer testimonials only promised results. So I ordered a Maximum Mass Stack to see what all this was about. When I finished my first semester, I had a 265 raw bench for 1, 405 raw deadlift for 1, and 405 raw squat for 1 at 180 pounds. I had gained quite a bit of fat at school.
I had planned to make the winter break for school the time I would test out the Maximum Mass Stack. First, the information in the Maximum Mass Guide was very informational. I had no prior knowledge about nutrition to begin with, and it helped me plan out everything I needed for success. I had asked AtLargeNutrition if they could change the Opticen to a bottle of Nitrean. This might have been a bad move on my part, but like I said, I had no prior knowledge of nutrition before the Guide.
My diet during the break, everyday
Breakfast:
-3 cups rice
~0.5 pounds of some lean meat, it changed everyday from beef, chicken, pork, etc...
-1 cup 2% milk mixed with 1 scoop nitrean (i am slightly lactose intolerant)
-4 ets capsules
-4 cups chicken broth cooked with 3 eggs
Snack:
-1 cup rice
-about a cup of whatever meat i ate for breakfast
Lunch:
-2 cups rice
-about a cup of breakfast meat
OR
4 bacon, egg, cheese hotpockets
Pre-workout
-2 cups milk mixed with 2 scoops maximus.
-5g creatine
Post-workout
-2 cups milk mixed with 3 scoops maximus, plus 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter
Dinner
-3 cups rice
-0.5 pounds breakfast meat
~3-4 tablespoons salted peanuts
-4 cups of chicken broth with 3 eggs
Before sleep
-1 cup milk with 1 scoop nitrean
-4 ets capsules
Needless to say, I spent most of my winter break eating. Some meals, such as dinner, lasted up to 2.5 hours of me sitting there eating food. There are some mistakes I made with this diet, such as taking 3 scoops maximus as PWO rather than 2 scoops opticen, and not dividing up the meals.
Training:
Monday ME bench
I rotated my lifts. I changed from Incline (245), Dumbbell Bench (115's), and Floor Press (265) each week and worked up to sets of 1. The 4th week was my test week.
Then I did my regular triceps stuff.. pushdown, dips, decline, incline dumbbell.
Tuesday DE squat
I did a 3 week wave for boxes,
Week 1: 245 for 12 sets of 2
Week 2: 260 for 12 sets of 2
Week 3: 275 for 10 sets of 2
On week 3, I was surprised that 275 popped up like a toy for all 20 reps.
Then I do my regular step ups, lunges, hip adduction, glute-ham raises
Thursday DE Bench
This was the first time I ever used bands. According to the manual, i had to have around 105 pounds of bar weight with mini bands on a standard bench set up. 8 sets of 3 for speed.
Then, regular triceps stuff.
Friday ME Squat/deadlift
week 1: max on deadlift. I got 435 and missed 455 right at the very top.
week 2: max seated good mornings. i am not very good at these. I didnt want to go past 185 for 3
week 3: max on rack pulls from just below knee. I got 545 just barely.
Then I did some glute ham raises, step ups, lunges, and also did dumbbell rows and wide grip pull ups for back work, and shrugs.
Test week:
After just 3 weeks, I did not know what to expect. I am currently 195 pounds
Bench: I thought about the 265 floor press and thought my bench might not have made much gain. I was wrong. I started doing 1's at 225. 225, 245, 265, 275, 295. When I popped up 295, I was unsure of whether to go to 315 or 305. My buddy encourage 315, and I got it. I couldnt believe it. I gained 15 pounds and my bench jumped from 265 to 315. Amazing
Squat: I was always scared of going past 400. My first 405 raw, i dont even believe I went low enough, but this was back during school. I started singles at 315. 315, 365, 405, 425, 455, 460. The 455 was slow and felt bad in the hole, so I decided 460 as the next jump. Came up easy. My squat gained 55 pounds.
Deadlift: I decided that since it was test week, my regular training schedule would be changed and I did deadlift today. It is known that deadlift does not increase with an increase in weight since it is a pulling exercise, not a push. And that is correct, my deadlift did not move much. I lost the 455 at the top, but it came off the ground much faster.
All in all, I gained weight from 180 pounds to 195 pounds, my bench rose a whopping 50 pounds, and my squat gained 55 pounds. This was all in a timespan of 3 weeks. There is no doubt that AtLargeNutrition is the only supplement provider there is.
I started reading everything I could about training and nutrition, and I came upon AtLargeNutrition. I had tried some supplements when I started lifting with my friends. Some EAS whey protein, some generic fruit punch flavored creatine, GNC mass gainer, Xport whey isolate mix. I saw progress from these supplements, but there was something missing. I used these supplements at a time when I was losing weight (during football season in late 2006) and I had no idea why my weight kept dropping. Nothing could stop my weight loss. My lifts were being negatively affected. At this time, I had a 205 bench press for 2 reps, 225 squat for 3 reps, and a 315 deadlift for 1 rep, all at a whopping 151 pounds.
Fast forward to June 2007 at the bench/deadlift competition. I got a 255 shirted bench press and a 405 suited deadlift at 165 pounds, 18-19 year old division. In the gym, I had a raw 225 bench for 1, and a slow 365 deadlift for 1 raw. Needless to say, 2 people did worse than me in the bench: a seemingly untrained woman who competed only for the sake of her husband and a 5 year old boy who was there because his dad set a state record. From this point, I decided I needed just more protein in my diet to make my lifts go up. From this, I consumed about 92 grams of whey protein a day. In August 2007, after consuming all that whey protein for 2 months in a row, my lifts made minimal gains. My deadlift was still 365 for 1 and slow and my bench was 245 for 1 and I was at around 170 pounds.
So enough of the backstory. My first semester at college, I read an article about PWO, and its importance. It linked to AtLargeNutrition. I started to become interested in all of their products involved in gaining mass. Everything on the website, from the research statements on the product page to the customer testimonials only promised results. So I ordered a Maximum Mass Stack to see what all this was about. When I finished my first semester, I had a 265 raw bench for 1, 405 raw deadlift for 1, and 405 raw squat for 1 at 180 pounds. I had gained quite a bit of fat at school.
I had planned to make the winter break for school the time I would test out the Maximum Mass Stack. First, the information in the Maximum Mass Guide was very informational. I had no prior knowledge about nutrition to begin with, and it helped me plan out everything I needed for success. I had asked AtLargeNutrition if they could change the Opticen to a bottle of Nitrean. This might have been a bad move on my part, but like I said, I had no prior knowledge of nutrition before the Guide.
My diet during the break, everyday
Breakfast:
-3 cups rice
~0.5 pounds of some lean meat, it changed everyday from beef, chicken, pork, etc...
-1 cup 2% milk mixed with 1 scoop nitrean (i am slightly lactose intolerant)
-4 ets capsules
-4 cups chicken broth cooked with 3 eggs
Snack:
-1 cup rice
-about a cup of whatever meat i ate for breakfast
Lunch:
-2 cups rice
-about a cup of breakfast meat
OR
4 bacon, egg, cheese hotpockets
Pre-workout
-2 cups milk mixed with 2 scoops maximus.
-5g creatine
Post-workout
-2 cups milk mixed with 3 scoops maximus, plus 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter
Dinner
-3 cups rice
-0.5 pounds breakfast meat
~3-4 tablespoons salted peanuts
-4 cups of chicken broth with 3 eggs
Before sleep
-1 cup milk with 1 scoop nitrean
-4 ets capsules
Needless to say, I spent most of my winter break eating. Some meals, such as dinner, lasted up to 2.5 hours of me sitting there eating food. There are some mistakes I made with this diet, such as taking 3 scoops maximus as PWO rather than 2 scoops opticen, and not dividing up the meals.
Training:
Monday ME bench
I rotated my lifts. I changed from Incline (245), Dumbbell Bench (115's), and Floor Press (265) each week and worked up to sets of 1. The 4th week was my test week.
Then I did my regular triceps stuff.. pushdown, dips, decline, incline dumbbell.
Tuesday DE squat
I did a 3 week wave for boxes,
Week 1: 245 for 12 sets of 2
Week 2: 260 for 12 sets of 2
Week 3: 275 for 10 sets of 2
On week 3, I was surprised that 275 popped up like a toy for all 20 reps.
Then I do my regular step ups, lunges, hip adduction, glute-ham raises
Thursday DE Bench
This was the first time I ever used bands. According to the manual, i had to have around 105 pounds of bar weight with mini bands on a standard bench set up. 8 sets of 3 for speed.
Then, regular triceps stuff.
Friday ME Squat/deadlift
week 1: max on deadlift. I got 435 and missed 455 right at the very top.
week 2: max seated good mornings. i am not very good at these. I didnt want to go past 185 for 3
week 3: max on rack pulls from just below knee. I got 545 just barely.
Then I did some glute ham raises, step ups, lunges, and also did dumbbell rows and wide grip pull ups for back work, and shrugs.
Test week:
After just 3 weeks, I did not know what to expect. I am currently 195 pounds
Bench: I thought about the 265 floor press and thought my bench might not have made much gain. I was wrong. I started doing 1's at 225. 225, 245, 265, 275, 295. When I popped up 295, I was unsure of whether to go to 315 or 305. My buddy encourage 315, and I got it. I couldnt believe it. I gained 15 pounds and my bench jumped from 265 to 315. Amazing
Squat: I was always scared of going past 400. My first 405 raw, i dont even believe I went low enough, but this was back during school. I started singles at 315. 315, 365, 405, 425, 455, 460. The 455 was slow and felt bad in the hole, so I decided 460 as the next jump. Came up easy. My squat gained 55 pounds.
Deadlift: I decided that since it was test week, my regular training schedule would be changed and I did deadlift today. It is known that deadlift does not increase with an increase in weight since it is a pulling exercise, not a push. And that is correct, my deadlift did not move much. I lost the 455 at the top, but it came off the ground much faster.
All in all, I gained weight from 180 pounds to 195 pounds, my bench rose a whopping 50 pounds, and my squat gained 55 pounds. This was all in a timespan of 3 weeks. There is no doubt that AtLargeNutrition is the only supplement provider there is.