Slow Bulk

[pyrosis]

Hi there,

Decided to keep a log. Here is a quick intro with history and goals.

I'm 34 yo male with generally athletic background and on and off experience with weights for several years. I'm 6'2" and currently 190#. My primary sports are climbing and snowboarding. I have done starting strength twice before: The first time I quit when I got too heavy for climbing, the second I stalled out from not eating enough.

My best lifts within the last year are:

Squat 235x5
Deadlift 345x1
Bench 185x4
Press 120x5

In January I injured my rotator cuff doing some silly rubber band exercise and immediately afterwards could neither bench nor press the bar, the empty bar. Nor could I do a pushup. It took about a month before I could even start lifting again, and I had to start from the bar and work back up to where I am now. Over the last few months, I feel I have finished rehabbing this injury back to full health and started to get my weights back up to close to what I was at before.

Over the last month I have been on a leangains-style cut and right now I'm sitting at 190# with a 32" waist, putting me around 10%BF by calculation. During this month my lifts have not regressed but neither have they surpassed my pre-injury numbers. My best lifts from this past week are as follows:

Squat 235x5
Deadlift 255x9
Press 100x9
Bench 145x10

My goals now are:

1. Gain as much strength as possible. Specifically, by new years I want to have completed the following lifts

Squat 315x5
Deadlift 405x5
Press 135x5
Bench 225x5

2. Stay as lean as possible. I would like to accomplish all of the above goals without rising above 15% BF. However - I am committed to goal #1 1st and foremost, even if it means sacrificing goal #2.

My plan at present is to continue on the Leangains diet plan, but switch to a slow-bulk setup. This will put me ~3500 kcal on training days and 2200 kcal on rest days, 200-225g protein per day. I plan to start a Starting Strength cycle tomorrow, from the beginning, and running it through the end of the year on the above diet plan. If I find at some point I am stalling out prematurely, I will increase the macros as necessary to continue the program. Will post up more details tomorrow after the first training session.

Here is a before pic from last week @190#



Thanks for reading.

-pyrosis

[pyrosis]

Slept 7.5 hours

Today's training (fasted)

Squats
45x2x5
65x5
85x5
105x5
115x3x5

Press
45x2x5
55x5
65x5
75x3x5

Deadlift
65x5
95x5
115x5
135x5

None of these felt difficult but I know to start low

Todays nutrition

protein 200g
carbohydrate ~375g
fat ~50g

[pyrosis]

Today,

Sleep: 7 hours. I can see this will be an issue. I work 12 hr shifts in the ER, 3pm to 3am (in August will be switching to the opposite of this.) Anyway, there just isn't enough time for 8 hrs sleep, then training, then food, then work. I need an extra hour from somewhere, so it comes from sleep. Hopefully this doesn't screw me in the end.

Activity: Walked through the woods, just me and my dog. ~20 minutes, not a soul in sight, loved it.

Eat: Protein 200 Fat 100 Carb 50

Work: 12 hours, busy shift in ER

Looking forward to training tomorrow and my day off, might do a little climbing as well and possibly even check out a BJJ class, never been before

[pyrosis]

Today

Sleep: 6 hours - ugh. Transition to the AM shift over the next week - must train myself to be able to get up at 230 AM instead of going to sleep at 330AM like I have been doing while on the PM shift

Activity -

Helped a friend with moving, ~1 hour
Train -
Squats
45x2x5
65x5
85x5
105x5
125x3x5
Deadlift (bench was occupied)
65x5
85x5
105x5
125x5
150x5
Bench
45x2x5
55x5
65x5
75x5
85x5
95x3x5

Everything felt off, everything felt crooked. These should have all felt really easy for me, they didn't. I purposefully left all the warmups at 5 reps because the weights seem so light, maybe that had something to do with it?



Anyway left the gym, went bouldering - Way Lake.. 20 minutes hike each way up a big hill, then climbed v1/v1/v1/v1/v2/v4/v5 - worked on a v6 (fail), worked on repeating Crimp Ladder (v7), failed but got very close

Eat

Protein 200
Carbs ~400
Fat ~50

[pyrosis]

Got to bed at the right time today, still slept maybe 6 1/2 hours - just couldn't fall asleep. Frustrating.

Rest day. Macros Protein 200 Fat 100 Carbs 50

Yard work, rest, lazing about. Feeling tired, still psyched for training tomorrow.

[pyrosis]

Sleep 7+1/2 hours, thank god

Early AM workout (from now on all warmups are as prescribed 45x2x5, ___x5, ___x3, ___x2, only documenting the work sets from now on)

squat 135x3x5, felt much better than wednesday
press 80x3x5, no problem
deadlift 165x5, no problem

yard work ~5 hours, mowing, trimming weeds and branches, chipping branches, raking, piling materials into the compost

macros - pigged out big time, didn't count, probably around protein 200, carbs 600, fat 200 oof so bloated

geeking out on Jordan's excellent nutrition article now, can't wait for the e-book

reassessing my goals and perhaps my plan, going to ruminate on it a bit

[pyrosis]

Ok so yesterday...

Slept 7 hours or so, had a pretty restful day. Light yard work, reading, eating, sex, nap, more yard work, more reading, more eating.

Thought a lot about my goals, decided to change things up on the nutrition aspect. Last time through the program, on 'cut' macros per leangains, i stalled out after 235 on the squats. I Keep thinking about the bar with 245 and how i want to get there and for it to feel easy, to crush the sets and keep right on past it. I see that the easiest way to accomplish this will be to eat more and make sure I maximize my recovery in other ways as well.

But first, the eating more. Decided to change up the macros, going for 300/400/133 protein/carb/fat. Tried it out yesterday and I got in the ballpark. Today tracking meticulously and i feel like im training more for competitive eating than anything else.

Last night slept like ten hours, this morning downed a protein shake and went to the gym

Squat 145x3x5 felt trivially easy
Bench Press 105x3x5 felt very easy - though there were a few slight niggles in my left shoulder (the injured one) and I don't feel very stable on the bench - like i might roll off to one side or the other at any moment.
Deadlift 180x5 - the concentric portion of the lift felt awesome, light as a feather. The eccentric portion i could feel slight twinges of pain in my knees at the moment when the knees would unlock. I know I am unlocking my hips first on the way down and then the knees after, but something felt wrong in my hamstrings right at the moment when my knees would unlock. I can see why some people prefer to just drop the deadlift from the top - the eccentric phase of the lift feels markedly more stressful than the concentric.

Now Im sitting here trying to finish my lunch and feeling more like I am training to be a competitive eater than anything else. Going to grit my teeth and force it in, this feels harder than the workout quite honestly.

Will check back later with macros for the day.

[pyrosis]

4000 kcal today - 300/400/133 protein/carb/fat

lots more to work on

[pyrosis]

Haven't logged in a bit, anyway last 2 workouts

Saturday

Squat 170x3x5
Press 90x3x5
PC 95x5x3

Yesterday
Squat 175x3x5
Bench 125x3x5
DL 225x5

Have been eating around 4000kcal/day and aiming for 200g protein, with good (i think) success though I havent been tracking strictly. Sleep is a struggle on work days, probably averaging 7 hours per night.