Chevelle's [divine] Log

[chevelle2291]

Double Post...

[chevelle2291]

Diet for Sunday, April 19, 2010

[chevelle2291]

So, obviously the last few days have not been productive in terms of muscle gain. Today, it showed. My workout was pretty tough today:

10 minute dynamic warm up
Squat
115x5
145x5
175x5
200x5
230x5

Bench
95x5
120x5
145x5
165x5
190x5

Row
70x5
85x5
100x5
120x5
140x5

Incline hammer curls
25# dumbbells
10-10-8
Seated triceps extensions
Single 45# dumbbell
10-10-10

Squat:
Started to feel weak once I hit the 200# set. 230 wasn't pretty, my last two reps had some forward lean going on. I hit depth, but the rise was not good. I'm chalking this up to my ****ty diet over the past few days because I was able to get 230x3 with very little trouble at all

Bench:
For some reason, bench was REALLY easy today. 190x5 flew up no problem. I was having issues psyching myself up for the last set, so I asked for a spotter just in case. I told the guy in plain English that I'd tell him during the set if I wanted help. I was doing fine through the whole set until the last rep when I hit a very minimal sticking point near the top of the movement. Spotter then tries to go in and help at the point, but I moved the bar away from his fingers .

Row:
Rows were pretty hard today. I think I've got the form down pretty good now, but 140x5 was a struggle. I barely hit my chest on the 4th rep, and there was a good amount of hip extension and chest lowering. I'm not happy with this one.

Curls and extensions
Don't flame me, but my biceps felt REALLY strong today. Curls were easy until the last set. Extensions were easy also.


I'm really worried about stalling on my squat. I know the problem was with my diet for the past few days so I'm going to bump my cals up to 4,000 for the next couple of days to offset the fail last week was. I think if I do this then my squat and rows will no longer be an issue.

The next couple of days are going to be hard in terms of training. Because my gym is closed for Relays on Friday and saturday, I'm going to condense my weightlifting sessions so that I'm doing Wednesdays workout tomorow and Friday's workout on Thursday. So the week will look like this:
Monday-Same
Tuesday-Wednesday's workout (squat,deads,military)
Wednesday-Cardio/abs
Thursday-(Squat,bench,row)

It's gonna suck, but I gotta do it.

[Mark!]

Workouts look good non the less. I fell forward on 225 once just because I was being an idiot and not focused on keeping things centered and checking my form mentally. Was pretty scary/funny at the same time.

[chevelle2291]

Workouts look good non the less. I fell forward on 225 once just because I was being an idiot and not focused on keeping things centered and checking my form mentally. Was pretty scary/funny at the same time.

Thanks Mark. I didn't actually fall forward. My feet never left their starting position. It was more of a lean, like a good morning.

I definitely had a hard time jacking up the focus/intensity today. Usually, I'm able to get really psyched up and just blast through my top sets no problem, but today I just couldn't generate it.

[Behemoth]

Like the detail and the steady gain approach. Dig the workouts too. You got reference pictures for where you're at to track as you progress?

[chevelle2291]

Hey, thanks for stopping in Be! I'm tracking progress through the mirror and by strength levels. I go to the gym at odd times so the scale reading I get from the weight room scale is worthless. I have some pictures I may post from a summer vacation when I was about 10-15 pounds lighter. Started a push/pull/legs split once I got to college and gained about 10 or so pounds relatively quickly while staying pretty lean. Although I'm still looking for hypertrophy, my main goal right now is to get my strength levels up to a solid level. I'd like to get another 10 pounds on my frame while I'm doing Madcow, but I'm finding that 3,500 calories a day may not be enough with what is normally 6 days of training (3 weights/3 cardio).

Hope your progress is going well Be!

Will post my diet tomorrow morning. Should be in the 4,500 calorie range, but that estimate may be a little high.

[chevelle2291]

Calories from yesterday. Lots of protein and calories. Definitely needed after my surprise rock star diet last weekend.

[chevelle2291]

Workout for 4/20/2010
Squat
115x5
145x5
175x5
175x5
Military Press
65x5
75x5
90x5
110x5
Deadlift
180x5
215x5
250x5
285x5

decline crunches
40#x3x12

Notes:
Squat
Easy, no issues. Felt a little heavy on last reps but that's to be expected with no rest day in between workouts

Military
Not too hard actually. Had heels together and started each rep from clavicle.

Deadlift
Focused on sitting back, getting my stomach full of air, and pulling back. Form was pretty good. 250x5 felt really hard. 285x5 was VERY hard. Form wasn't terrible, in fact it was probably a lot better than when I pulled 280x5 last week as I was focusing on sitting back more. Hips rose faster than my arms on three of the reps---I think I'm starting to find my natural sticking point. I definitely would not say the form was bad, however. I did not feel my back rounding at all. I'm hoping I can push to 300x5 before I have to deload, although that may be a stretch.

[Behemoth]

Excellent awareness you have of training technique. Deads and squats in the same day... have fun tomorrow :-p

[chevelle2291]

Excellent awareness you have of training technique. Deads and squats in the same day... have fun tomorrow :-p

Be, you're like a weightlifting Yoda!

Thanks Be. I spend a lot of time on different sites reading up on form. I'm pretty happy with my squat form, happy with my deadlift form until it gets REALLY heavy, and think my bench is acceptable. I could definitely get more leg drive and maybe a bigger arch on my bench. I could probably get a wider grip too. I use a closer grip to save my shoulders a bit, a wider grip seems to bother them.

Calories for the day are lookin' good. Just had two grilled honey mustard snack wraps from McDonald's, one of the few things I can eat from that place.

[chevelle2291]

Diet from April 20, 2010

Lots of protein. Went a little over 4,000 just in case my estimate was a little off. I think I'm going to drop back down to 3,500 calories.

Allergies have been absolutely terrible lately. Yesterday (April 20) I had a good amount of dairy (couple cups of cottage cheese, lots of whole milk and skim milk). Usually, dairy doesn't bother me. When I was like 10 I used to have a very mild reaction to dairy (runny nose, sneezing, that's it). I haven't experienced the reaction in 8 years. However, it seems that my allergic reactions to the pollen in the air is bringing out my dairy reaction again . Yesterday, I felt tired and weak all day after my workout, had trouble breathing (so bad that I had to use my inhaler, which I haven't done in five years), coughing, wheezing, you name it, I had it.

I'm avoiding dairy as much as I can today. I'm not sure how I'm going to get 3,500 calories in now, looks like I have a lot of eating to do. Getting my bodyweight in protein is going to suck too.

Edit: It'd probably help if I attached the graphs and charts, huh?

[chevelle2291]

Workout for Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Ab circuit (one minute at each station, 3 rounds for a total of 12 minutes--done until faliure or time goes out)
15# dumbbell arm circles
swiss ball leg raises
25# Parallel hanging crunches
Bosu ball+swiss ball planks

Cardio
Tabata "sprints" on indoor track

Felt really weak during my workout. Had just a peanut butter sandwich before. I took it a little easy on the cardio today as I've been having trouble breathing lately. Was still challenging, but I wouldn't say it was all out. Was still wheezing at the end, however.

Aiming for about 3,500 calories today. Tomorrow I up the weight in squats, bench, and rows. My workout will be later than usual so hopefully that'll help. I might crack open my old container of creatine sugar mix to see if that'll give me a little boost during my workouts. We'll see.

[Behemoth]

Do you weigh yourself daily? I'd really like to watch AM weight over a little bit of time to see how your bodies responding to what you're throwing at it. Which on the whole I like. What do you guestimate your BF at and how easily do you gain BF? Also, how is the bodyfat stored? Do you have areas that are heavily disporptioned with it? I personally carry most of mine around my spare tire and ass. Pictures, if possible, would be clutch (no homo). A personal opinion of mine is how ones bodyfat is stored is maybe the most monumental factor to consider when devising a gaining or cutting plan, mostly in regard to how heavy you can bulk and how hard you can diet without detrimental results.

[chevelle2291]

Do you weigh yourself daily? I'd really like to watch AM weight over a little bit of time to see how your bodies responding to what you're throwing at it. Which on the whole I like. What do you guestimate your BF at and how easily do you gain BF? Also, how is the bodyfat stored? Do you have areas that are heavily disporptioned with it? I personally carry most of mine around my spare tire and ass. Pictures, if possible, would be clutch (no homo). A personal opinion of mine is how ones bodyfat is stored is maybe the most monumental factor to consider when devising a gaining or cutting plan, mostly in regard to how heavy you can bulk and how hard you can diet without detrimental results.

Be, you can just ask for a picture of my ass, I won't judge you. :P I don't weight myself in the morning as I don't have a scale in my dorm. :. Why I didn't grab my home scale when I went to college I have no idea. I weigh myself every once in a while at the gym scale, but that measurement is worthless as I have different clothes, food in my stomach, etc., each time. I know my local Walgreens has a digital scale for $20, which I may pick up since without a scale I have no clue if what I'm doing is working.

I'd estimate bodyfat to be 10-12%. I have pretty visible abs, not "dry," but definitely visible. I seem to carry most of my fat in my thighs, a little in my thighs, ass, and lower back. I don't gain fat all that easily. For example, I went on what you could call a "dirty" bulk when I first got to school. I ate a little more loosely (not much though, not like candy and fast food and crap, just a little more ice cream than usual), did less cardio (only did weight training 3x a week), and drank alcohol on a weekly basis (weekends only, rarely (rarely!) to excess). Afterwards, I gained about 10-15 pounds, from 140-145 (did competitive cycling in the summer, talk about skinny) to 165.

Went home, and my friends noticed a little loss of abdominal definition, but that's to be expected seeing as how I was rail thin with body fat probably in the upper single digits when I was cycling.

I seem to lose fat relatively easily. After my "dirty" bulk, I upped the cardio to 3x a day, along with doing HST. Lost pretty much any body fat I gained from the bulk. I think that if I went on a cut for six weeks or so (low carb, if not keto) I could get down to single digits from where I'm at now, although it'd be worthless with the amount of mass I have.

For body type, I'd say I'm ecto-mesomorphic, with more of a lean to ecto, I just seem to gain and lose fat a little bit easier than a true ecto. I'm just barely under six foot, if I'm not six foot, and I have long limbs and a short torso.

I could probably snap some shots of myself at school, but I'd prefer not to as I'd have to do it pretty early/late so that I don't have a friend walk in and see me snapping pics of my near-naked self. I've already been caught "posing" and don't want to draw more attention to myself . This floor already thinks I'm crazy for not drinking every weekend.

Be, I'll just give you a run-through of my training history.

Age 13--begin working out in friend's basement, then move on to high school gym. Typical beginner routine, with bench 2x a week, and squatting once a week. Gained about ten pounds. Ate barely maintenance as I am a former fat kid and didn't want to gain weight.

14-16--super restrictive diet. Probably 1,500-2,000 calories a day, training 3x a week high volume session of push/pull/legs and 20 mins of HIIT cardio and or high-intensity steady-state cardio. Was ripped up, but very small (around 140 at 5'10"). Strength never got much higher than 135x3x10 bench, and about 160-170x3x10 squat. I set a goal for myself to have a six pack while I was in high school, which I reached easily.

16-17--started reading up a bit more on training. Was still in a calorie deficit, but did a small cycle of Starting Strength, focusing on form. Also did quite a bit of Olympic lifting, focusing on clean and jerk, which I have down okay (for teaching myself basically) and snatch (I still suck at). Most of my training was still push/pull/legs with high volume. Went on a keto diet (Anabolic Diet--high fat, low carb, 3,000 calories a day), and got pretty ripped on it. Might try keto again sometime if I decide to cut

17-18-started competitive cycling. Did some training in the weight room during the off season, but not much. Strength stayed around the same as before.

18-19--got back into the weight room at college. Did a push/puil/legs with medium volume for first couple of months on my "dirty" bulk, gained about 10 pounds. Strength increases were gradual, yet consistent. Trained with about 80-90% of max on most lifts. Then did a cycle of HST, which was a waste since I wasn't eating enough to gain. Then started Madcow, which is what I'm doing now.

Current diet is about 3,500 calories with an aim for a 40/30c/30f split, but that usually doesn't happen as I'm at the hands of the cafeteria food for now and I don't want to waste the meal plan my parents paid for. I could probably do a high protein, high fat diet on cafeteria food, but getting a super-specific macro split while at college could be tough. When I have more money next year I'll probably (although not certain) start cooking at least a few of my meals in my dorm (community kitchen).

For the summer, if I go strict on the diet and try to gain some solid weight, I'm thinking of doing a diet with high protein and fat, with most carbs centered around workout times (pre-during-post). What do you think? Good idea?

Appreciate the help!

[Mark!]

I think your fat stores are pretty much the same as a lot of guys. Mine are thighs, love handles and ass. I have noticed my thighs and knees are thinning out, so are my thumbs...yeah. Get that scale. We have a scale where I work on days I'm there but that damn thing always pisses me off. It's off by 7.5 pounds, one day I weighed with just undies on, get so pissed and depressed, haha. A good quality scale keeps everyone sane, regardless of gaining or losing.

[chevelle2291]

I think your fat stores are pretty much the same as a lot of guys. Mine are thighs, love handles and ass. I have noticed my thighs and knees are thinning out, so are my thumbs...yeah. Get that scale. We have a scale where I work on days I'm there but that damn thing always pisses me off. It's off by 7.5 pounds, one day I weighed with just undies on, get so pissed and depressed, haha. A good quality scale keeps everyone sane, regardless of gaining or losing.

Yea, I ended up taking a video of myself yesterday to give me an idea of where I'm at. Definitely had fat mostly around my lower back and ass. Thighs actually looked pretty lean when flexed. I'll probably post the video, or I may take another one later with my face covered in case any of my friends were to find this site. Having a video of me flexing playing in front of my fraternity house is not exactly my idea of a good time haha.

I'll probably pick the scale up later today. It's electronic, so it should be relatively accurate. Thanks for stopping in Mark.

[chevelle2291]

Diet for Wednesday, April 21, 2010

This came out a LOT better than I thought it would. I drank no milk yesterday (except in my protein shake that night) as I had a severe reaction to dairy on Tuesday, which was probably brought about by my alleriges to pollen. So, I thought for sure Wednesday would be screwy in terms of calories in, but I actually hit 3,500 apparently. I like to use a leeway of about 150 or so calories when using Myplate, as I only estimate as best I can. MyPlate is pretty accurate though, so I'm pretty sure I hit my targets.

Today's diet is looking a little rough so far. The food at the cafeteria was awful today, so I stuck to slices of pizza (the pizza here actually has a good macro breakdown, with a solid dose of carbs (30ish per slice) protein (18g per slice I believe) and fats (8 or so grams per slice) and a little bit of whole milk. I felt like I wasn't getting in enough carbs and overall calories, so I took some peanut butter, spread it on the sides of a soup bowl, and then put some chocolate soft serve in the middle to boost up my calories for the day. It's definitely not the cleanest source of calories. Normally I would go for cottage cheese, but I was worried that the cottage cheese might be too much raw dairy for me, so I went with the ice cream, which never seems to give me trouble.

With the peanut butter, the ice cream combo should be 700 or so calories, which I desperately needed. So far, I'm probably sitting at 1800 or so calories today, which is good as my schedule is hectic from here on out and I don't know when I'll eat again.

The attached pictures are yesterday's diet. I may start cutting out milk a little more now. With less milk, I have less pure sugar and carbs in my diet, and I can get my protein from other souces. Anybody have any input on this?

[chevelle2291]

Workout for Thursday, April 22, 2010

10 minute dynamic warm-up
Squat
115x5
145x5
175x5
200x5
235x3 (easy as heck, I almost jumped for joy at the end of this set haha)
175x8--didn't take a long enough rest period after my strength set before starting this, so it was a little tough, but not terrible.

Bench
95x5
120x5
145x5
170x5
195x3--easy, super pumped. Can't wait to do 200 for 3-5.
145x8

Row
70x5
85x5
105x5
120x5
145x3--rough. Form was a lot better than last week, but it was still hard. I'm definitely getting into a groove with this though. My form has really come around and my body is getting used to the movement. Shouldn't be a big issue in the future.
110x8

Pullups (rushed, done with back-to-back with sets of dips, bleh)
10-6-3.5 20# weight

Dips
10-10-8 25# weight

Felt like this workout was going to blow. Was low on calories again today due to allergies (drinking no milk really blows). I also decided to take this weird creatine/sugar mix with me to the gym instead of my normal protein shake. Big fail. The creacrap tasted horrible and probably dehydrated me a bit. I was able to blow through my strength sets, however, so overall the workout went pretty well.

Ended up buying the scale from walgreens. Tested out an open model and it kept giving me the same reading, so whether or not its accurate to my weight shouldn't matter as long as I keep progressing from what it initially told me. I've decided to weigh myself every morning right as I wake up. I'm hoping to weigh in around 159-160 tomorrow, but wouldn't be surprised if I was lower. Damn, I need to eat.

I'm hoping it'll rain tomorrow so I can consume some more milk. Every time it rains my allergies get better, so maybe that'll be the case tomorrow.

After talking to Behemoth, it looks like my fat intake is consistently high due to eating too much peanut butter. I'm going to try and limit how much fat I get in my diet, replacing those calories with carbs and seeing how my body responds. I'm going to try and keep fat around 80g to start, carbs around 350-400g, and protein around 200g. We'll see how it goes. Obviously, the gram counts are going to be mostly estimated (pretty accurate estimate), so I may be off by 20 or so grams, but it's the best I can do at the moment.

250x5 squat is coming, I can smell it.....

[Mark!]

Solid work here bro. Squats are nice. You got the 250x5 man.

[Off Road]

Good progress. You are getting those squats died in. Nice!

[chevelle2291]

Thanks guys! Weighed myself a few minutes ago, 158.6. . Kind of what I expected, but I definitely want to be hitting 160 within the next couple of weeks.

[Behemoth]

Workout for Thursday, April 22, 2010

10 minute dynamic warm-up
Squat
115x5
145x5
175x5
200x5
235x3 (easy as heck, I almost jumped for joy at the end of this set haha)
175x8--didn't take a long enough rest period after my strength set before starting this, so it was a little tough, but not terrible.

Bench
95x5
120x5
145x5
170x5
195x3--easy, super pumped. Can't wait to do 200 for 3-5.
145x8

Row
70x5
85x5
105x5
120x5
145x3--rough. Form was a lot better than last week, but it was still hard. I'm definitely getting into a groove with this though. My form has really come around and my body is getting used to the movement. Shouldn't be a big issue in the future.
110x8

Pullups (rushed, done with back-to-back with sets of dips, bleh)
10-6-3.5 20# weight

Dips
10-10-8 25# weight

Felt like this workout was going to blow. Was low on calories again today due to allergies (drinking no milk really blows). I also decided to take this weird creatine/sugar mix with me to the gym instead of my normal protein shake. Big fail. The creacrap tasted horrible and probably dehydrated me a bit. I was able to blow through my strength sets, however, so overall the workout went pretty well.

Ended up buying the scale from walgreens. Tested out an open model and it kept giving me the same reading, so whether or not its accurate to my weight shouldn't matter as long as I keep progressing from what it initially told me. I've decided to weigh myself every morning right as I wake up. I'm hoping to weigh in around 159-160 tomorrow, but wouldn't be surprised if I was lower. Damn, I need to eat.

I'm hoping it'll rain tomorrow so I can consume some more milk. Every time it rains my allergies get better, so maybe that'll be the case tomorrow.

After talking to Behemoth, it looks like my fat intake is consistently high due to eating too much peanut butter. I'm going to try and limit how much fat I get in my diet, replacing those calories with carbs and seeing how my body responds. I'm going to try and keep fat around 80g to start, carbs around 350-400g, and protein around 200g. We'll see how it goes. Obviously, the gram counts are going to be mostly estimated (pretty accurate estimate), so I may be off by 20 or so grams, but it's the best I can do at the moment.

250x5 squat is coming, I can smell it.....

Nice workout, way to make squats your bitch. What type of rows are those you're doing out of curiousity?

I was a little aprehensive of even mentioning the fat to you because I was afraid you were going to cut it back. And I definetly didn't mean to do that. Fact of the matter is this, you're currently lean and you seem to be having a hard time dialing in putting on some mass. I wouldn't subtract ANYTHING from what you currently doing diet wise. Only add to at this point (definetly think you need to eat more carbs daily). And unless you start softening up too much too quickly (and rememebr at least a little bit has got to be accepted) only then think about what and how much you should cut anything back -- in which case I'd reccomend the fat. But I woudln't drop a gram of it right now bro. I'd be taking advantage of that cafeteria and treating it like an all you can eat buffet!

[chevelle2291]

Nice workout, way to make squats your bitch. What type of rows are those you're doing out of curiousity?

I was a little aprehensive of even mentioning the fat to you because I was afraid you were going to cut it back. And I definetly didn't mean to do that. Fact of the matter is this, you're currently lean and you seem to be having a hard time dialing in putting on some mass. I wouldn't subtract ANYTHING from what you currently doing diet wise. Only add to at this point (definetly think you need to eat more carbs daily). And unless you start softening up too much too quickly (and rememebr at least a little bit has got to be accepted) only then think about what and how much you should cut anything back -- in which case I'd reccomend the fat. But I woudln't drop a gram of it right now bro. I'd be taking advantage of that cafeteria and treating it like an all you can eat buffet!

It's funny that you said I made squats my "bitch." I put those exact words in my phone as a note from that workout haha.

The rows are full-ROM, from the floor, like this link. I'm pretty happy with my form on these right now, it's definitely come a long way.

I'm going to start adding some more carbs into my diet, with probably just a little less fat than I've been taking in. I think I definitely need to start eating more, maybe in the 4,000~ range. Although in terms of strength-to-weight I'm pretty happy with my current weight, I definitely need to be up near 165 in the next couple of weeks. Be, how do you think I am in terms of protein? Should I bump it up a little bit?

The next few days (today, tomorrow) are going to be dietary hell. I"m probably going to aim for 2,500-3,000 calories, with 5-600 of those being empty calories from drinking. I'm just going to try and get my bodyweight in protein in and just focus on not losing any muscle while minimizing fat gains from the drinking. Think that's a good plan?

[Behemoth]

Bad plan. I'm not going to hate on you for drinking, not at all. I'm walking proof that you can make great gains and drink as I've done it in the past. You're in college so that's not even worth adressing. That all being said, I don't like the plan. It's becoming more and more evident that you're pretty ectormorphic. I think you may be a little too bodyfat phobic too. I think with the way ease you've outlined that bodyfat can be removed... there is no justification for a day under 3500 calories ON TOP of drinking. I'd rather see you hit your calorie goals and drink the night away than eat only 2,500 and not a drop of alcohol.