My journey to 250 lbs.

[250orBust]

july 13 2010

Alright, my first solid workout since my weekend from hell. I threw the belt on for my last couple warmup sets on squats to figuire it out and it felt great. Its the Prime cut belt 13mm from bestbelts.com.

Squats
Decided to try out my old PR because I shat the bed on sunday at that weight. Belted up I got it done.
325x5x3

Bench
Ive been stalling on this one for far to long so I'm doing a reset
225x5-5-7

Pullups
BWx11x3

Back extentions
45x10x2

[250orBust]

july 15 2010

My gym is ridiculously hot, Ive had to bogart the fans to all face me. I dont know if the heat is wearing me out or my first set of squats but my 2nd and 3rd exercises are suffering. Im probably just being a pussy. On a more positive note I didnt lose a single pound on tasking in halifax. Im still holding down at 225 and ready to attack the accent to 250 again.)

Squat
345x5x1 (I was warming up getting ready to do 335 for a single set of 5 but I felt hulk like and tossed another 10 on the bar, probably a bad idea in the long run but I smashed my PR by 20 lbs. I love my belt)

Press
160x3x3 (155 felt easy on Monday yet this felt so hard. I think I may have to move onto intermediate programming soon. I hate missing reps)

PowerClean
225x2x1
185x3x3
(Same issue as press, feeling pretty worn out and was making terrible catches so I backed off to 185 to get my form back.)

Dips
BW-19-13

Curls
100x8x2

[250orBust]

July18 2010

After enough stalling on Bench Ive decided to move onto intermediate training. Im going to do the 4 day split routine exampled in practical programming with triceps accessory work on bench days to help my failing lock-out. Has anyone tried said program before or would you suggest the texas method.

Benchpress
230x5-5-5-5-6

Dynamic Press
115x3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 (1 minute rest between sets, these did not move as fast as I thought they might so Ill stick with this weight until they speed up.)

Weighted Chins
45x8-7-6

Closegrip Bench
185x13-9

Weight is up 1 pound to 226, 24 pounds to go!!

[250orBust]

July 19 2010

Another sub-par workout. Its my own damn fault for not eating properly this weekend but I feel I'm due for a reset on squats any how. Weight is fluctuating around 225. I have been going half GOMAD this week but I might bump it up to 3 liters. On a more positive note this new training split gets me out of gym faster and Im digging the assistance exercises.

Squat
330x5-4 (weak! not enough food)
255x5-5-5

Power Clean
195x3-3-3-3-3-3 (Catch is getting better although I jumped into a few and took it in the throat, no homo)

Glute Ham Raise
BWx8-8-8

Reverse Hyper extension
BWx15-15-15

I did 3 sets of farmers walk with 120 lb dumbbells at the end of this one

Body weight 226--->224

[gamedog]

Anyways this brings me to my current spot. I havnt jumped on the scale since leaving a month ago so Im pretty excited to see where its at. The food at the cafeteria was terrible so I opted to eat large quantities of junk rather then selectively eat cleanly. Im sure i maintained my 225 lbs but I put on a little more fat than I would have liked. Anyways, Im back on the milk now and Ill be belting up for my squats tomorrow. 250 here I come!

You live in Nova Skotia and you want to gain weight? I got three words for you... King. Of. Donair.

;-)

We don't have The King down here in MD, USA. We have Kwiky Kebab. I get two of their donair sandwiches after I hit the gym, and it's definitely been a win for me. I try to eat clean (by clean I mean Whole, not-processed/altered) the rest of the time. It's a nice break and compared to Burger King or Mc Donalds, it's not that bad health wise.

I went from 214 on May 3 to 253 today. And I'm not obese. A little fluffy maybe but not obese. And I look scary now too LOL Turkish Food FTW! LMFAO!

[250orBust]

You live in Nova Skotia and you want to gain weight? I got three words for you... King. Of. Donair.

;-)

We don't have The King down here in MD, USA. We have Kwiky Kebab. I get two of their donair sandwiches after I hit the gym, and it's definitely been a win for me. I try to eat clean (by clean I mean Whole, not-processed/altered) the rest of the time. It's a nice break and compared to Burger King or Mc Donalds, it's not that bad health wise.

I went from 214 on May 3 to 253 today. And I'm not obese. A little fluffy maybe but not obese. And I look scary now too LOL Turkish Food FTW! LMFAO!

I actually live in New brunswick so I dont have the power of Donairs anymore. I was doing linear progression on Quarter pounders at mcdonalds where I got up to a 4 patty burger but ive had to reset resently back to the standard double quarter pounder. Your weight jump has inspired me, Im going on summer holidays for 3 weeks so weight gain might be alittle harder but im determined to come back in august 231 lbs. 2 pounds a week.

[gamedog]

I actually live in New brunswick so I dont have the power of Donairs anymore. I was doing linear progression on Quarter pounders at mcdonalds where I got up to a 4 patty burger but ive had to reset resently back to the standard double quarter pounder. Your weight jump has inspired me, Im going on summer holidays for 3 weeks so weight gain might be alittle harder but im determined to come back in august 231 lbs. 2 pounds a week.

It isn't difficult to do. But, I would like to impart one thing, if I may.

It will help you if you begin to see food as Fuel and nothing else. I knew a guy in high school who wanted to gain weight. Well, he ate big and I guess he lifted big too, and he got big. Only problem was, he never stopped eating at that initial intensity level. He'd eat more and more and more until it was above what is necessary and he just kept getting bigger, and bigger, until he was obese.

He liked the big eating more than the big lifting.

At first, when I began putting on serious weight, the fucking scale seemed like it was going up every day. And it freaked me out at first, I'm not going to lie about that. It did scare me a little at first. I didn't know what I would be, just 12 weeks down the line. And believe me, I'm happy with what I've become ;-)

Anyway, I know that I will not be eating like this forever. No sir. This is just for the short term, while I am a novice trainee. I jokingly said in another post on this forum that:

"I'm not shitting you when I tell you that I consume 5,000 to 5,500 calories per day in steak, chicken, turkish food, veggies, cheese, whole milk, beer, whey protein, almonds, pistachios, the occasional CrossFitter or first born child of a Korean immigrant family, etc."

And it's true. I eat a lot of food. But, this is only Fuel. That's the ONLY way I see it.

1. Fuel for the resting metabolic rate, plus
2. Fuel for the daily activities (work, walking my pit bull, nailing my wife), plus
3. Fuel for working out in the weight room, plus
4. Fuel for recovery from workouts, plus
5. Extra Fuel for building new muscle

When a novice, you can, with the right stimulus, rest, and surplus of calories, build new muscle at an alarming rate. So fuel that, but remember, it doesn't last forever. When you slow down, scale the eating back, thus adjusting the Fuel uptake as necessary. This will allow you to stay healthy, and not become obese like my friend did. He didn't see food as fuel, for him, it was a vacation and a goal, like getting stronger and gaining weight, was his excuse to over-eat.

Seeing food as fuel will help any trainee keep things in perspective and, I submit, allow him to get strong, and avoid any unpleasantness later on.

Good luck buddy! I'm going to follow your log and I am excited to see you progress!

[250orBust]

July 21 2010

Another shat workout, I havnt been sleeping well lately. On the upside my summer vacation starts tomorrow so I can try and sort that out. There was also a crossfitter who deemed it necessary to take his shirt off for his entire workout. Ive been hearing about this phenomenon for a while now but I didnt think anyone would try and pull it off on a base gym.

Press
160x4
155x4-4
I got pissed off with stalling here again so I jammed out 2 sets of pushpresses
175x4-4

Dynamic Bench
155x3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3
These felt good, I paused at the chest every rep and really focused on exploding.

Pullups
BWx12x3
These are progressing well, putting on an extra repetition every week

Dips
BWx5
55x5-5

Curls
45lb dumbbellsx45x2
I feel like a bit of a fag working on the gunzz but they make my elbow feel good.

weight 226

[250orBust]

Alright, So Im still on summer vacation but I'll fire up an update. First of all Ill say im really enjoying the 4 day split routine. Not that im getting stronger quicker then I would on the texas method but I really enjoy the assistance exercises this lets me throw in.

July 23 2010

Squat
225x3-3-3-3-3-3

Deadlift
425x5
460x1

The example 4 day split in Practical Programming has halting deadlifts and rackpulls on friday but I'm doing straight deadlifts so I wasnt sure on the volume I should do. I wore my belt for the first time DL'ing and it felt great so I went for a PR single as well. It wasnt beautiful but it was quick and beastlike, not bad for no chalk and a weird bar.

Shrugs
315x12-12

[250orBust]

July 26 2010

Bench
235x5-5-5-5-6

Last workout before my old sticking point, hopefully I blast though 240.

Dynamic Press
120x3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3

Weighted Chins
45x8-7-6

Close Grip Bench
195x10-10