# FITNESS and NUTRITION FORUM > DIET AND NUTRITION >  From shit to fit (khazima's Log)

## Khazima

Hey everybody, so I figured I'd start a log for a few reasons. 1. To keep a log and track progress. 2. Everybody else is doing it ^.^ and 3. Because I don't have much else to do with my time.

I've got to the peak of my first proper bulk, been bulking for about 8 months and being my first bulk having no clue about my body or my TDEE, I got pretty fat as you can imagine. 

I've always been naturally lean, I started lifting at 110lb just over a year ago. I struggled to get past 12% bodyfat and lose my abs and feathered delts. Now I'm fluffy as can be and extremely happy with the progress made. I've put on roughly 6-7kg muscle in the last 8 months. With that came a lot of bodyfat. 

So since summer is right around the corner (Australia) I decided to get down to a reasonable bodyfat and begin to lean bulk again. 

My intentions have next to nothing to do with looking good for summer and going to the beach to show off my 6 pack. My goals are to get to a bodyfat where I feel better about myself, and don't feel like I'm carrying this unnecessary weight. 

Supplements I'll be using: 
Creatine
Multivitamin
Zinc
Fish oil

I'm also currently taking albuterol with ketotifen, not for a specific reason, not to bust a plateu, not to make up for a poor diet, but mostly through curiosity and wanting to dip my feet in.

I was going to wait for a lower BF% to use it, however something was planned for a little over a month from now, and that gave me the perfect window of time to use it.

3 weeks in I'll be adding:
800mcg Chromium
20mg synephrine 
600mg EGCG

Stats:
19
5'8
160lb (73kg) 
BF% 17-18%

Goal weight: 
66-67kg (145-147lb)
At 12% Bodyfat

Macros:
170 protein
200 carbs
90 fats
2300 calories (TDEE 2600)

Looking forward to regularly logging, feel free to follow me on my journey.

~Kaz

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## Khazima

So I'm already actually a week in, and had my first weigh in yesterday. Down to 69kg already, I'd imagine due to a large fluctuation in water weight and some loss of glycogen. I still feel quite full and not any smaller.

Today:
Felt a bit shaky this morning, I'm on 12mg albuterol and 1mg ketotifen a day and i feel it quite active for a few hours after taking it, I'm due for my second 6mg dose now.

Hit upper body today, more of a deload workout before I start this linear program properly. Felt beast in the gym, great pumps and lots of energy, especially due to a preworkout I've concocted myself. But I was sweating like crazy, literally dripping sweat and having to wipe myself off after each set.

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## uhit

Subbed in

Good luck bro

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## Khazima

> Subbed in
> 
> Good luck bro


Cheers man

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## Khazima

Did legs today, went quite well except for my left knee playing up a bit.

Only had two bananas this morning so it's so good to get home and have some butter chicken! 

Wasn't very shaky today and thankfully I wasn't dripping sweat the whole session either haha, to be fair it was a lower intensity session with bigger rests between sets. 

Fell asleep really early last night and missed 200 calories, and I was feeling it after my workout today, so hungry! But it was worth the 11 hours sleep.

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## Mr. Small

Make sure you drink plenty of water, as i have some golfers elbow in both arms with the last cut i did from not keeping myself hydrated enough.

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## Khazima

> Make sure you drink plenty of water, as i have some golfers elbow in both arms with the last cut i did from not keeping myself hydrated enough.


Cheers for the tip bro, unfortunately I've already got some mild tendinitis in my elbows from benching 3x a week while bulking.

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## Khazima

Good day today, upper body again, sweating like a pig as expected doing supersets with everything. No shakes today, got a girl coming over soon so I'll be getting my cardio in for the day  :Wink:  

My bench is starting to feel somewhat weaker, but it's the first proper day of the linear program so there's really no telling how much of an impact the cut has had so far, not feeling any smaller and I still feel full, plus is can get pumped pretty easy.

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## Khazima

Another great day so far, kicked off the morning with a pretty dense breakfast of 3 whole eggs and a packet of mi goreng, was feeling a little depleted this morning so I went for a high carb high fat meal and it filled me right up and gave me the energy to get through a quite gruelling session. 

Cardio yesterday prolonged my DOMS from legs the day before, usually I'd rest but I decided today was one of those days where I'm just going to push myself and force myself to hit the numbers.

Squats went really well, I've had to go a notch down on my belt lmao, cut must go going well if thats the case after my breakfast left me a little bloated. 

Sweating like a pig again today because it was higher intensity, and trying to perfect my sumo deadlift as I'm trying to switch! No shakes and feelin damn good after that session, just about ready for meal 2, some butter chicken after I do some foam rolling and stretching.

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## Khazima

Decided to hit arms today, my workout days were thrown off a bit and I was supposed to rest today but it works better with the program if I rest tomorrow. Took 5g arginine with my preworkout and albuterol before my workout. Had some crazy pumps in the gym and a lady friend came over for cardio after. 

No shakes, diets going well, starting to get a bit hungry LOL got 1k calories left still I'll be fine. Thinking of running a new split and going back to 1 body part a week, I like the volume but I feel like higher frequency is more effective, I suppose there's only one way to find out what works best for me!

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## Khazima

I'm going to start taking another 3mg dose of albuterol 3-4 hours after my 3pm dose as I feel the effects are becoming less pronounced. So the protocol will be 6mg at 8-9am (preworkout on training days), 6mg at 3pm and 3mg at 7-8pm for a total of 15mg daily. I'll be seeing if it messes with my sleep at all tonight.

On another note my brothers just starting at the gym, and nearing the end of my personal training course it's (so far) been really great experience as he is completely inexperienced, overweight and uncoordinated. So it's really helping me to get a feel for how hard it can be for a beginner and how the way they need to train is so different to me.

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## zempey

keep it up, sounds like you are on the right track, I will be following your log.

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## Khazima

> keep it up, sounds like you are on the right track, I will be following your log.


Cheers mate  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Rest day today, one of the two most dreaded days of my week. Went rather quick this time thankfully because me and my brother took the dogs out to a dog beach a half hour drive away. 

Been hungry today, and the family plan on having pizza for dinner! No way I can handle that with the amount of calories I have left, I'd have to eat half a pizza to get full and go a thousand calories over. 

I'm contemplating upping my keto dose to 1.5mg, as I feel the tolerance to albuterol is building and my receptors not being fully restored. If this is the case I'll be happy to go back to 12mg daily. However I'm going to figure out which is cheaper, upping my albuterol dose, or upping my keto dose. 

Also thinking about doing a new split.. More or less decided to go back to a 3 on 1 off split doing chest/back, legs (including deadlifts) then shoulders/arms, rest, repeat. Should be fun  :Smilie:

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## Deal Me In

Thanks for the log man. I will be following as I'm curios about a few things you are doing. I've been thinking about adding arginine in pre workout also and wondering if you take it everyday or just on days when you feel you need a boost?

Also, you said your calories are currently at 2300. What was your intake during your bulk? Thanks to some great articles by Times Roman I've revaluated my diet and have dropped a significant amount of calories. Just curious how big your drop was as I read the effects. 

Otherwise, keep up the good work.

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## Khazima

> Thanks for the log man. I will be following as I'm curios about a few things you are doing. I've been thinking about adding arginine in pre workout also and wondering if you take it everyday or just on days when you feel you need a boost?
> 
> Also, you said your calories are currently at 2300. What was your intake during your bulk? Thanks to some great articles by Times Roman I've revaluated my diet and have dropped a significant amount of calories. Just curious how big your drop was as I read the effects. 
> 
> Otherwise, keep up the good work.


I'll only take arginine on days I want to chase the pump, it doesn't really give you a boost it just increases blood flow helping you get pumped. I'll usually just take it for arms but since my splits changing I'll be taking it for all upper body days. 

I was bulking a little excessively, started at 3500 went down to 3100 and was comfortable with 3000, then I dropped 100 calories every 3-4 days to get to maintenance, maintained for a few weeks and dropped straight to 2300.

Cheers brother  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Woke up at 69.5 this morning! Gained about a pound, hardly impressed! I put it down to water fluctuation especially since I went 40g over in carbs yesterday. Since the first week I lost 3kg (about 6lb) i can imagine that was due to the big change in carbs and glycogen/water depleting, so some must've decided to restore itself  :Smilie:  still feel full and feel like the deficit is working so I'm not worried... Yet  :Stick Out Tongue:  

Got some chest/back today, first day of the new split and I'm super excited.

Also took 1.5mg keto last night and my sleep was sensational! Woke up completely refreshed with 9 hours sleep. Now to see what effects it had on albuterol tolerance.

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## Khazima

Just got back from chest/back, great session but I might have to alternate between chest and back instead of doing chest then back. By the time I got to bent over rows I was fvcked. Definitely sweating a lot more today and started to feel a little more fatigued than I usually would. Session went as follows:

Flat bench 3x5 

Incline DB bench 3-4x8-10

Cable fly 3x10-12

Dips (10-12) superset with wide-grip pull-ups (8-10) x3

Bent-over row 3x8-10

Dumbbell row 3x10-12

Lat pulldown 8-10 

Quite an exhausting session but ALOT of fun, feel like an animal when I'm sweating like a pig rowing my bodyweight for reps.

Feels like upping my ketotifen dose worked better than adding in another 3mg albuterol dose, but I may try doing 2, 9mg doses of albuterol, yet to do the maths on it! I get an extra $100 with my next pay so that pretty much covers albuterol, ketotifen and a few weeks of TB500 haha, or my food for the fortnight  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## Khazima

So after a little thought I've decided that instead of spending another chunk of money on more albut and keto (shipping kills me in aus) I'm going to stop running what I've got, and use austinites fat loss protocol to get to atleast 15% BF then run the last 2 weeks of albuterol. So from now on my protocol will be: 

20mg synephrine
600mg ECGC
800mg chromium picolinate 

Every morning. 

On another note, off to train my brother in an hour or so, and it's time to see if he can deadlift! He can hardly coordinate a bench press but his squat form is strangely good for a newb.

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## zempey

Careful on the deads with the newb, especially if he is tall. I would like to try the fat loss protocol as well in the future, but only to get from 10%-12% to 7-8%. I am lucky, I can lose fat quite quickly to about 10%, then it really comes down to how strict I can be. Gaining lean mass is where I struggle, no matter how strict I am the gains come real slow.

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## Khazima

> Careful on the deads with the newb, especially if he is tall. I would like to try the fat loss protocol as well in the future, but only to get from 10%-12% to 7-8%. I am lucky, I can lose fat quite quickly to about 10%, then it really comes down to how strict I can be. Gaining lean mass is where I struggle, no matter how strict I am the gains come real slow.


He's really short haha he did quite well considering it was his first time Deadlifting, kept the weight really light and just did a few sets to plant the seed. I think I'll be sticking with squatting and planks, maybe some hyperextensions to strengthen his lower back abit more before we go back to them. 

I used to be crazy lean all the time and unable to gain weight, until I started counting macros properly lol. I still find it quite hard to put on mass though, I don't grow easily. It'll be interesting to see how well I can grow once I'm lower BF and can actually see the progress I'll be making.

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## Khazima

Figured I'd post some pics.

Today.  


Training 12 months, started at roughly 50kg (110lb) to my heaviest above 73kg (160lb)

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## Times Roman

I can see the work you've put in............

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## Khazima

> I can see the work you've put in............


Cheers brother  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Today was my first proper leg day back since deloading and starting to cut, and I'm sad to say I'm losing a decent amount of strength  :Frown:  it's just part of it though and I'm sure I'll get back to the same strength at a lower bodyweight quite quickly now that I've got my training a lot more dialled in. Today I did:

High bar back squat 5x3 - my previous would have been 250lb, today it was 225 and decently hard. I'm confident I'll get 235 pretty easily next time though. First week back from a deload is always a struggle.
Sumo deadlift 6x3 - mostly technique sets trying to open up my hips and getting used to getting tight in the sumo position, got 250 for 6 sets of 3 easily.
Front squat - 2 quick sets of 135 for 6 then a set of 155 for 6 to finish off the quads. 
Calf raise - pyramid up to 4 plates on the leg press, 2 sets of 8 reps and pyramid back down max reps each set.

Today was also the first day off albuterol and using austinites fat loss protocol, didn't notice much of an energy boost but I take preworkout anyway, sweating excessively again not sure whether to contribute it to the stack or not. 

Definitely looking leaner, got home to take a shower and can see a lot nicer shape in my pecs and the outline of my abs starting to show. Can't wait to see some separation in my quads!

Pretty happy with the day so far, got a lady friend coming over for the night so that should be fun.

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## Khazima

Weight in at 69kg today, that's .5 less than Friday, I decided to weigh again today because I didn't go over on carbs yesterday and knew it'd be a lot more accurate.

Another good day, was a bit worried having a lady friend over was gonna mess with my sleep, ended out getting an extra 2 hours!

Gym went well, starting to feel leaner every day, strength has gone down slightly losing about 2 reps on my shoulder pressing. Did shoulders and arms which consisted of:
Sets/reps
Seated DB press 4-5x6-8
Lateral raises 5x12-15
Facepulls 4x12-15

Incline dumbbell curls to failure, then stand and go to failure again x3
Repeat with hammer curls. 

Cable curl 3-4x8-12
Superset with rope pushdowns 15-20

Close grip bench 4x6-8
Skullkrushers super set with single arm overhead extension 10-12/8-10

'Twas a great session, had good pumps going and starting to get a little vascularity. Rest day tomorrow  :Frown:  training my brother again though which will be fun. 

For the last 4-5 days I've been stretching and foam rolling for atleast half an hour at any point during the day and the benefits have been paramount. I've struggled for a whole to make a habit of it but my hips are too tight for sumo, so I've forced it into my every day routine. 
I've also been using a tennis ball to get deep into the adductors and also using it on my pec minor/teres major to open up my shoulders a little more. Definitely noticing a big difference in both areas, especially how wide I can stand with sumo now.

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## Khazima

Managed to have a grand ole' time even though it was a rest day today. Public holiday here and the family and myself went to an indoor skydiving facility, it was ALOT of fun and now I want to jump out of a plane lol. 

Not much else to log being a rest day, got paid so I got to order my supps, a new belt, and did a tonne of grocery shopping so I'm basically sorted for the next two weeks. 

Wanted to get some squat shoes but it looks like they'll have to wait with my current funding. 

Chest and back tomorrow, I'm already fresh and damn keen.. Can't wait to kill it.

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## Khazima

Today was hard.. I felt alright getting to the gym but within a few sets times I felt exhausted and pretty much spent the whole workout hauling arse.. I increased my numbers slightly on all my lifts but I'd left the weight lower than I could have last chest/back day. I felt absolutely exhausted, I had only had one large banana pre workout, usually I'd have some oats and some eggs but I woke up late and was meeting someone there. 

Legs tomorrow, and I'm definitely eating a lot more before I go.. Today was really hard to push through and my intensity suffered, although I'm glad my numbers didn't. 

I was struggling last night with food as well, I really felt like something sweet and didn't have many calories left, about to go to bed hungry and ended out having a chocolate biscuit lol, putting me at a 200 not 300 deficit that day, which I'm fine with. 

Time to do some meal prep for the next couple days.. Did a bucketload of shopping yesterday so I've got plenty of awsome meals to cook this week.

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## Khazima

Legs went a lot better today, still felt a little depleted but I had a much bigger breakfast and got through the workout with adequate intensity no problems. 

I'm keeping my strength somewhat and my sumo deadlift is still making great linear progress, last week I did 6 sets of 3 with 110kg, this week I did pyramid sets from 110-115-120-125-130 all for 3 except for 130 which I got for 2. 

Still having a lot of trouble with my hips and have slacked off on the stretching and foam rolling the last two days, my sumo being only 20kg lighter than my conventional already is very encouraging and I have no doubt I'll hit 3 plates even on a cut.

Today I did:

Squats 5 sets of 3 with 110kg 
Sumo Deadlifts 6 sets of 3 pyramid from 110-130kg 2-3 reps. 

That was all for today as I needed to get home and start an assignment that's due tomorrow.. And now I'm on the forum -.- 

New powerlifting belt arrived this morning and it feels great, can't wait for it to break in and be less stiff but it has a lot better wall at the front to push in so I can generate a lot of intra abdominal pressure.

Maintaining my strength is one of my biggest focuses on this cut and in turn it should maintain a lot of muscle mass also. I'm going as hard and as heavy I can every day and haven't had any noticeable loss in size, and quite minimal loss of strength. However I'm only 3 (I think) weeks into the cut and there's a while left to go.. 

I'm starting to notice myself getting a lot leaner especially around the lower abdomen area, starting to see that v that make the ladies wanna squeeze. It's a great feeling not being bloated all the time, I blew up like a puffer fish during the bulk, and felt horrible about myself at the peak.. I already feel a lot better. 

Here's a pic from last night. 

Now for this assignment...

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## Joco71

Good work KZ definitely can see clear changes.

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## Khazima

> Good work KZ definitely can see clear changes.


Thanks man  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Shoulders and arms today, decided to get up early and do my session before TAFE, didn't end out getting my assignment done in time but it should be fine. 

Starting to feel a bit depleted regularly, a bit lower energy than usual. I'm probably going to switch to high carbs on training days. Im not sure if i fully grasp the concept of carb cycling, whether it'd be better to have high carbs the day before training days and low carbs the day before rest days, as in this case my glycogen would be fully restored from the day before. Or i may just have a refeed day once every 5-6 days when im feeling depleted, eat at or slightly over maintenance with low fat that day, then lower my other daily deficits to make up for the refeed day. 

I'm probably over analysing a bit, and just need to keep on the grind, but its fun to play around with options  :Smilie:  

Not feeling too hungry today, had 2 decent sized meals already and have plenty of calories left.

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## Khazima

Woke up at about 68.7 today, however I've changed scales as that one wasn't digital and too hard to get an accurate reading.

I've now got a digital bio impedance scale but it doesn't have an athlete setting so the body fat calculator sucks.. won't be going of that lol. So my bodyweight this morning on that was 69.9kg which is the number I'll be going off from now on. 

Decided to refeed today as my whole last training block I felt quite depleted especially yesterday. I'm aiming for 2800 calories (200 above maintenance) and around 350-400 carbs. 

I fell asleep early last night and missed 250 calories, so that fell together quite nicely.

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## Khazima

Didn't have time to eat much this morning and had to head straight to TAFE, only had 1 large banana and took a bunch of food to eat when I got there. By the time it got to the end of class and I had time to eat I was getting incredibly agitated very easily. Supposed to get a lift home with some mates but I was so agitated with them that I just caught the train home.

Got home and had a tub of ice cream and I feel much better lol. I think i timed this refeed really well because I've been slowly getting more and more easily agitated and feeling less and less energised. After only 1 full meal I feel much better, and I'll be roaring and ready to go tomorrow.

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## Khazima

Felt much better today, forgot to log until just now! 

Ended up having 3100 calories yesterday, around 430 carbs, went a little overboard by about 300 calories but hey.. I needed it. Have adjusted my calories accordingly this week by 50 less per day (to 2250) to make up for the 300, more than likely I'll go back to 2300 next week. 

Woke up at 70.5kg which is a good feeling because it was incredibly hard to get to 70, now I'm at 70 relatively lean (by society's standards, not mine). So for me this is an achievement.

Chest/back today, went quite well but I lowered the volume a little to save some glycogen, but still went hard on the stuff I did. 

I did:
Bench 5x3
Bent over row 3x8
Incline bench (3x10) superset with pull-ups (3x8-10)
Dips 3x12-15
Dumbbell row 4x10
Neutral close grip lat pulldowns 2x8-10

'Twas a great day and felt nice to get a solid pump in my back again, ran into a mate at the gym and ended out going to the beach for the day to have a good perv and a swim. Got a little burnt but my pasty ass needs it. 

Keeeeeen for legs in the morning.

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## Khazima

Legs was quite the success!

Hit a double bodyweight PR in sumo after doing it for less than a month, now its only 10kg (22lb) from my conventional max. That's after a month of cutting.

The went on to hit a 1.5x bodyweight PR on the front squat.

My back squat has maintained strength in the last 2 weeks as well, I had an extra 2.5kg on the bar for the first 2 of 5 sets, but my form started to break down so I went back down 2.5k (5lb) to last weeks sets for the remaining 3 sets. 

Knees weren't giving me too much hassle today which is a relief. 

I think I'm definitely going to utilise carb cycling, so far it has worked wonders. That refeed was much needed and numbers have been great since. I plan on having high carbs on rest day, then for the first two days of my split, use my carb cycled glycogen on my last training day, then start again with high carbs on the rest day (3 on 1 off split) ready for the first day of the split again. 

Protein will stay 170g throughout. On high carb days ill aim for around 60 fat, 250-280 carbs, then low carb days will be 80-90 fat, 190-200 carbs. I've noticed massive differences in training by only increasing carbs 20-50g, the next day training has gone well each time. 

Woke up at 70.4 again this morning, which I would expect from still being full of glycogen.

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## zempey

Doubt I will ever do double my weight on squats again, getting too old for that shite. Last time I was squatting over 500lbs my shoulders and knees started to give me grief.

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## Khazima

> Doubt I will ever do double my weight on squats again, getting too old for that shite. Last time I was squatting over 500lbs my shoulders and knees started to give me grief.


Haha luckily for me double bodyweight is only 310lb at the moment. Highly doubt I'll continue to do it after 30, I plan on being pretty big by then too and with my already dodgy joints it seems like an unlikely situation.

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## Khazima

Tried the new preworkout 'Frenzy' from the makers of craze today, and it was damn good to workout with, I was incredibly focused and pumped my whole workout, able to push through every goal I had for the day. 

However now it's many hours later and I realise after getting clean from stimulants and having a horrible run with them, that a preworkout like this definitely isn't for me. 

I got home still focused, did some of my assignment then ended out passing out for 2 and a half hours (not too out of the norm) but now that everyone is home I'm starting to get the same anxious feelings I'd get coming down from speed, not as intense, but still uncomfortable. 

It's pretty likely they've 'forgot' to put something on the label, as there isn't really anything on there to warrant this.

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## lovbyts

I think I read another similar post not very long ago about someone else having similar experience, speed rush and then crash. Yeah not a good feeling if you are battling demons.
Keep up the good work.

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## Khazima

> I think I read another similar post not very long ago about someone else having similar experience, speed rush and then crash. Yeah not a good feeling if you are battling demons.
> Keep up the good work.


Yeah definitely not for me, it's the kind of preworkout that had me looking for a good deal immediately.. Not a good sign lol. Gonna stick with my caffeine..

Cheers man.

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## zempey

I just started a new pre workout, super pump 3d, its pretty good, seems to have a little more stimulating feeling than my previous one, but that could just be from it being new to me. I will probably build up a tolerance to it like I do all of them, but I do like taking a pre workout drink.

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## Khazima

> I just started a new pre workout, super pump 3d, its pretty good, seems to have a little more stimulating feeling than my previous one, but that could just be from it being new to me. I will probably build up a tolerance to it like I do all of them, but I do like taking a pre workout drink.


Yeah I like em too, what are the stimulants in super pump 3d? New PWOs are always great for a bit then you build a tolerance and are looking for the next best one haha, I've just started making my own with proper doses of all the main ingredients.

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## Khazima

Just finished up shoulders/arms, pretty good day started to feel like I wanted to puke towards the end though which is strange for me. Decided to do standing barbell OHP instead of seated dumbbell and it was a great choice, more than likely I'm going to stick with that from now on. 

I did:
Standing barbell OHP 5x3
Face pulls 3x12-15

Seated dumbbell curl standing after failure 3x8-10/8
Seated hammer curl standing after failure 3x8-10/6-8

a) Tricep pushdowns w/rope 3x10-12
b) cable curl w/EZ bar 8-10

Close-grip bench press 3x6

It was a great workout, a little more conservative than usual, and I forgot to do lateral raises.. then I went to the shops to grab a couple kilos of chicken for the rest of the week. Low carbs today and rest day tomorrow.

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## GirlyGymRat

> Just finished up shoulders/arms, pretty good day started to feel like I wanted to puke towards the end though which is strange for me. Decided to do standing barbell OHP instead of seated dumbbell and it was a great choice, more than likely I'm going to stick with that from now on. I did: Standing barbell OHP 5x3 Face pulls 3x12-15 Seated dumbbell curl standing after failure 3x8-10/8 Seated hammer curl standing after failure 3x8-10/6-8 a) Tricep pushdowns w/rope 3x10-12 b) cable curl w/EZ bar 8-10 Close-grip bench press 3x6 It was a great workout, a little more conservative than usual, and I forgot to do lateral raises.. then I went to the shops to grab a couple kilos of chicken for the rest of the week. Low carbs today and rest day tomorrow.


You certainly are consistent!!!!  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

> You certainly are consistent!!!!


Thank you  :Smilie:  consistency is key!

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## Khazima

Woke up at 69.3kg (152.7lb) that's .6 (1.3lb) lighter than my last low carb day 4 days ago. 

I really am only using the scale to make sure my weight is trending down, since I've started carb cycling my weight has been all over the place, since my refeed day my weight has fluctuated from 69.9kg to 70.4kg back down to 69.3kg, rather than over analysing these numbers I'm going by what I see, which is certainly results.

Being my first proper cut I need to keep in mind that it is more than likely a slower process than I had in mind. This mindset seems to be working great so far, and I'm happy with every aspect of my cut.

I woke up (just now) at 12:30pm today! Fell asleep at 1am so I'd expect to have slept until 10am at the latest but I must've needed some extra sleep, and it's the perfect day for it, my rest day! Feeling refreshed, and hungry.

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## Khazima

Woke up at 69.9 this morning, after 40g more carbs than I had the day before. 

Chest/back this morning, went rather well considering I didn't have time to eat as much as I would have liked and had to rush the session. 

I definitely feel like I am not limited to only losing fat, my strength is decreasing slightly, but I've managed to keep it consistently for the last 2 weeks or so. But I feel like I am growing, I don't feel like I'm getting smaller, this morning my chest felt bigger than usual, and I hit a PR on incline db press which was strange. 

Keen as for legs tomoz

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## Khazima

Late post unfortunately, I like to post as soon as I finish working out as how I felt and how the workout went are fresh in my mind.

Legs today, I decided to try switching to low bar and it went rather well, I felt very powerful, really enjoyed it and have decided to switch for now. 

After that I did sumo Deadlifts with the expectation to do front squats after, but once I stepped under the bar and started to squat again I started to get agonising knee pain. I've been having minor knee issues for over 2 months but today was by far the worst, and I think I'm going to have to do the unthinkable... Do legs once a week  :Frown:  

I like doing legs twice a week as I feel squatting and Deadlifting more often is the best way to get better at squatting and Deadlifting, especially referring to technique. With these knee issues I simply cannot continue to squat and deadlift every 4 days, I'm going to try switching back to conventional for now and see if that helps, and potentially cutting out front squats. 

I plan to use TB-500 soon, and will certainly be squatting once a week during that as I really want my knees to recover fully. 

It feels like it may be tendinitis or some other minor overuse injury. Regardless it sucks  :Frown:  and I want to squat more, especially after how much I enjoyed low bar today. 

I've been suuuuuper hungry the last couple days, mostly in the afternoon.. I've been withstandably hungry during the day and decided to eat then been extremely hungry with no calories left at night. So I'm going to eat much less in the mornings and save atleast 1k calories for 7pm and after. 

Cut is going very well, 69.9 again this morning but I'm definitely feeling leaner and some cuts are beginning to show I'm the abdominal region, just need to get a tan! 

Also, something I feel the need to brag about.. Today me and a mate went to the shops to grab some meat and seasonings, and being such a bro I had to walk past the protein isle which is full of ridiculously expensive tiny little pound tubs of protein for 5x the price they're worth, and they were all over 80% off! We literally bought every single one on the shelf, massive protein bars for 90% off and nothing is even close to out of date. We filled 2 shopping baskets with tubs of protein and protein bars.

Sensational day.

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## zempey

Might need to back off the sumo deads, could be placing a lot of stress on your knees. Nice score on the protein.

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## Khazima

> Might need to back off the sumo deads, could be placing a lot of stress on your knees. Nice score on the protein.


Yeah that's what I was thinking, especially since I have tight hips making my femurs internally rotate. 

I didn't think anyone would read that far! Didn't realise how much of a rant that post was until I clicked post haha.

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## zempey

I used knee wraps today for squats, I went to 315 for 2 sets of 8 and didn't want to stress my knees too much. I haven't been too consistent with legs, between the shoulder issue and now hockey, I am trying to get back into squats slowly. I will hit 3.5 maybe 4 plates a side next week. If my back cooperates I might try and get back to 5 plates a side, depends on my body and how it reacts to the heavier weights down the road.

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## Khazima

> I used knee wraps today for squats, I went to 315 for 2 sets of 8 and didn't want to stress my knees too much. I haven't been too consistent with legs, between the shoulder issue and now hockey, I am trying to get back into squats slowly. I will hit 3.5 maybe 4 plates a side next week. If my back cooperates I might try and get back to 5 plates a side, depends on my body and how it reacts to the heavier weights down the road.


Jeez that's a hell of a squat for inconsistent leg training! 

Decided to do some more low bar squats today as they didn't aggravate the knee yesterday, even at sub maximal loads my knee began to get irritated to the point where it hurt to unrack my OHP.

Good luck with the legs!

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## Khazima

Had shoulders/arms today, and was pretty happy with my OHP, I had a 5lb jump in weight and hit the same reps comfortably. 

Decided to have a go at some skwaaats later on in the day and my knee became aggravated quite quickly which sucked. So I went back to doing some doubles and triples on OHP, and was overall happy with the second session! 

It was pretty unnecessary to go back to the gym but a few mates were going and I decided to tag along, and just work on technique and motor patterns.

A mate who has recently started coming to the gym only just really learnt how to deadlift properly, and he decided to do some heavy singles (his form was fine otherwise I certainly would have advised otherwise) and he ended out working up to 4 plates! He's 80kg so that was 2.25x bodyweight, which took me a year to hit and it was his second time Deadlifting properly Lmao. 

Still got nothing on my squat tho  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## Khazima

It's been a rest day today, so not much to log! 

Decided to have a refeed day, my last one was a little over a week ago and I still felt decent as of yesterday, so I'm just going to eat up to maintanence, keep fats really low and aim for around 500g carbs, which should keep me replenished for another week or so. 

Loving the whole refeed approach especially since I'm using it as a somewhat cheat day as well, so far I've had:

80g oats/200ml skim milk/20g honey
Protein shake 30g p
60g rice/200g chicken w/beans/broccoli and butter chicken sauce
2 150ml weight watchers ice cream cups (135 cal ea)
20 minties

And I plan to have some steak and potatoes for dinner to finish off my protein, then some sour patch kids to top off the day! 

So keen for chest and back tomorrow, ima kill it.

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## Khazima

Just had an incredible chest and back workout, I'm really benefiting from carb cycling, woke up at 69.2kg even though I went into a caloric surplus of 300 kcal yesterday, and 200g extra carbs. 

I ended out deciding to do heavy doubles and singles today, and my max flat bench is the same as it was at the peak of my bulk, I hit 200lb (90kg) for a single, and about 6 sets of 175 (80kg). This is great news for me as my pressing is a weak point, so to maintain it this far is extremely satisfying. 

My incline db bench has gone up also, usually I'll use 55lb dumbbells for 3-4 sets of 8-10, today I easily did 60lb for 4 sets of 8-10. 

I've also increased the amount of pull-ups I can do, usually it's 6-8 as I was carrying a lot of excess weight now I can do sets of 10 quite easily. I attribute this to losing some excess weight. 

Feeling much fuller today and very happy with my results so far, I'm so excited to get back into a surplus and make some solid gains. 

I'm overall satisfied with austinites fat loss protocol, however I don't have previous occasions to compare results with. 

Probably about another 3-4 weeks cutting with austinites protocol only until I run the rest of my albuterol for about 2 weeks. 

Legs tomorrow and I'm worried about my knee playing up some more, I'm going to ease into it and hope nothing happens, lay off the sumos and just squat. 

I plan on getting some TB500 before I get my squat shoes, because there's not much point in getting shoes to squat in if I can't squat due to my knee injuries. So I'll probably run that for 6-8 weeks to help with the (self diagnosed) tendinitis, before going back to squatting and Deadlifting properly.

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## zempey

Good job bro, keep at it cause it is working for you. A piece of advice on pull ups is to do every set to failure and even cheat a few extra with momentum. I have built up to a couple sets of 20 and a couple sets of 12-15 at a body weight of 255-260 by pushing past failure. Dips and chins will increase the more you do them, I set a goal to do 50 dips and 25 chins and reached it this summer. I can't do wide pull ups yet with my bad elbow, but it is getting closer, I try them every so often just to see how they feel.

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## Khazima

> Good job bro, keep at it cause it is working for you. A piece of advice on pull ups is to do every set to failure and even cheat a few extra with momentum. I have built up to a couple sets of 20 and a couple sets of 12-15 at a body weight of 255-260 by pushing past failure. Dips and chins will increase the more you do them, I set a goal to do 50 dips and 25 chins and reached it this summer. I can't do wide pull ups yet with my bad elbow, but it is getting closer, I try them every so often just to see how they feel.


That's solid man 25 at 260.

I do them every chest/back day which is twice a week. Thanks for the tips  :Smilie:  

Spewin about the elbow, I only do wide grip because I get the best contraction in my lats that way, closer grip and chin ups I find it harder to contract my lats properly without over exaggerating an arch in my back, and my biceps/brachioradialis do all the work.

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## zempey

I can do pull downs with the stack, but the pull ups still hurt, I am close, maybe another month and I will be able to do them with minor pain and no worries of further injury. I can contract my back pretty well doing chins, but back is my strong point, I struggle on chest/shoulders.

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## Khazima

> I can do pull downs with the stack, but the pull ups still hurt, I am close, maybe another month and I will be able to do them with minor pain and no worries of further injury. I can contract my back pretty well doing chins, but back is my strong point, I struggle on chest/shoulders.


I'm the same, back grows relatively easy but chest and shoulders are a struggle, it's all about finding what stimulates them the right way. Benching at 3-6 reps and incline benching at 6-8 has been working really well for me, as well as dips to failure. 

Shoulders are a bitch to grow lol especially natty, heavy OHP has been working and laterals were blowing up the medial delt during my bulk. 

That's a pic of them when they peaked (with half natty lighting).

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## zempey

Ya shoulders are a bitch to grow. I have been hitting heavy OHP and heavy bar shrugs, got up to 455 for 12 this week. This is a pick a couple weeks before I peaked at the end of june, about 250lbs.

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## Khazima

> Ya shoulders are a bitch to grow. I have been hitting heavy OHP and heavy bar shrugs, got up to 455 for 12 this week. This is a pick a couple weeks before I peaked at the end of june, about 250lbs.


You look great there man shoulders look nice and proportionate to your chest/arms.

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## zempey

I have been pretty lucky genetics wise, everything stays in proportion, but it is also a curse. Unless everything grows, nothing grows. I am doing a bulk right now, all natural until dec. I am planning a 8 week test only bulk, then 8 weeks off, then 16-20 weeks of lean bulk transitioning into a cut. I want to try some new compounds and combinations, try front/back loading tren ace with tren e, really curiious about masteron as well. Need to do some more research to make sure I do everthing right this go around.

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## Khazima

> I have been pretty lucky genetics wise, everything stays in proportion, but it is also a curse. Unless everything grows, nothing grows. I am doing a bulk right now, all natural until dec. I am planning a 8 week test only bulk, then 8 weeks off, then 16-20 weeks of lean bulk transitioning into a cut. I want to try some new compounds and combinations, try front/back loading tren ace with tren e, really curiious about masteron as well. Need to do some more research to make sure I do everthing right this go around.


Sounds like an awsome adventure man. Growth is a bit like that, comes and goes in spurts, sometimes you feel anabolic as fvck other times you feel like you can't make gains at all. Exactly why consistency and patience are key.

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## Khazima

After remembering I have a stationary bike just outside my bedroom, I decided to do 20 mins on it at 160bpm (80% MHR) and I think I'll incorporate it EOD from now on, given it has no effect on my leg workouts, if it does I'll just do it 2 days before legs and the day after.

Felt good to get some cardio in, I doubt I'll eat the extra calories I'd rather just take the larger deficit, speed up the process a little considering I'm only eating 300-400 calories below maintenance anyway.

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## Khazima

Tried to do legs today, didn't go so well  :Frown:  

I felt fine warming up with the bar but as soon as I chucked a 10(kg) on each side the pain started to come back, I tried low bar/high bar/front squats, for a couple reps each and all of them aggravated my knee slightly, towards the end I thought of box squats and they didn't hurt holding a 16kg dumbbell so I'll try those next time and see how they go.

Instead I did some singles with my conventional deadlift since it didn't seem to agitate the knee too much, I worked up to 3 singles at close to 95% 1rm, mostly to work on my form at my heavier weights. 

Then I moved onto benching at 90% for 5 easy singles, I would've gone higher but I benched yesterday and don't want to risk my shoulders too much since they're already dodgy.

After that I did 3-4 sets of doubles on overhead press with 85%, they went rather smooth and I didn't really want to go any heavier. 

I ended out making the best of a bad session, I'm ordering TB500 tomorrow and I'm going to go easy on legs and find exercises that don't aggravate my knees until they're all cleared up. 

It's a real low blow since I've maintained my strength so well thus far into the cut. Ah well, I'm excited to be injury free some time soon!

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## Khazima

Today went pretty well considering my split is a bit ruined not being able to do legs, woke up at 69.0kg, so my weight is trending down nicely, as well as my strength seemingly maintaining if not getting better. 

I realised the other day that hitting my 1rm at 4kg less bodyweight technically made it a PR, which is exciting haha it's something like .07x more bodyweight, it's not much but I'll take it! 

Couldn't do legs yesterday and ended out Deadlifting/benching and overhead pressing a little so I decided to do back/biceps today, it was quite enjoyable, and went as follows;

Back:

Wide grip cable row 4-5x10-12 (Substitute for bent over row, sore lower back)
Pull-ups 4xFailure (10/10/9/7)
Croc row (split stance standing dumbbell row) 4x8-10
Lat pulldown 3x8-10 (dropset last twice) 
Also did seated rear delt raise 4x12-15 superset with first bicep exercise.

Biceps:
Seated dumbbell curl 2x8-10 standing after failure
Seated hammer curl 2x8-10 standing after failure
Cable hammer curl 3x12-15

Then since my mate was benching I decided to do 4 singles with 85%, mostly playing around with my new (closer) grip, and working on my pause. 

I ordered my tb500 this morning and have 15mg (6-8weeks supply) on the way. Very keen to get multiple niggling injuries cleared up, especially my knees. 

Now for some food!

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## Khazima

Just did 10 minutes HIIT on the stationary bike outside my room. I did intervals of 10-15 seconds sprint then 15-20 seconds rest, for 5 minutes. Then I did 10 seconds sprint and 40-50 seconds rest for the last 5 minutes. I had a serious sweat on, average HR was 185, max went up to 194, got up to 190 for most intervals. 

Really couldn't be bothered sitting on the bike for 25-30 mins so I just blasted it in 10 lol. Feels great to be doing cardio again since I haven't been kickboxing or anything for a few months. I'm more than likely going to get back into boxing 2-3 times a week, and that'll be my cardio. 

I wrote out an entire periodised program for myself just before, it's very easy on the legs and I'm going to use it while I use the TB to let my knees heal. I've left room for when I find exercises that don't aggravate them. I'm really excited to see if I can increase my bench and overhead press throughout the duration of my cut. If anyone would like to take a look at the program for free feel free to PM me. 

I've estimated another 6-8 weeks of fat loss until I'm content and ready to get back into a surplus. I originally estimated 8 weeks, losing a pound a week. Which would be fine if I wanted to go into more of a deficit, but I'm happy with the rate Im losing weight and it's been a great learning experience so far. So it should last for a total of about 10-12 weeks, I don't want to go any longer than that especially being young as it could be damaging to my developing hormones. I plan to run the rest of my albuterol in 3-4 weeks, leaving two weeks (total of 10 weeks) until I go back into a surplus. 

Now... For a chocolate ice-cream protein thick shake >=)

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## Khazima

My plan worked again! Went to bed at 1 to try and force myself to sleep in, woke up again at 1, 12 hours sleep and rest days almost over.

Woke up and had a breakfast of the kings, steak, eggs and a pancake with maple syrup. Bit heavy on the calories but I can afford it when it's 2pm already  :Smilie:  

Probably going to do 25-30 mins steady state or 10 mins HIIT cardio a bit later. Heaps keen to bench tomorrow and start my program.

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## Khazima

Pretty good day so far, woke up early to do chest and back, the first day of my program. I felt quite exhausted pretty quickly into the workout but I'd attribute that to not having a proper breakfast and only getting 6 hours sleep the night before. 

I had a final practical assessment for my course today and my group and I aced it, we had to take a group of kids for an exercise session and it went really well. 

Pretty keen to try and hit some squats again tomorrow, my knees are feeling pretty good so hopefully I can just get by with some squats and conventional deadlifts.

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## zempey

I have recently added Vitargo carb supplement to my pre/intra/post workout drinks. I am noticing a nice boost in energy, pumps and recovery, my strength is getting better as well. It has only been a week and a half, but I am really noticing the difference. I train at 5am so I can't eat before I go, the carbs get into my system quick and give me the fuel to hit it hard and not fade at the end.

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## Khazima

> I have recently added Vitargo carb supplement to my pre/intra/post workout drinks. I am noticing a nice boost in energy, pumps and recovery, my strength is getting better as well. It has only been a week and a half, but I am really noticing the difference. I train at 5am so I can't eat before I go, the carbs get into my system quick and give me the fuel to hit it hard and not fade at the end.


Had to take a quick look into this vitargo. It just seems like another supplement scam, plenty of decent reviews and some promising 'studies' if you'd call them that. There's a deal on it with a specific website where I get this $30 tshirt and a $10 shaker with it, so I think I might give it a shot. It's pretty pricey.

Edit: Just looked again and I was looking at the 700g, prices are absolutely ridiculous, over twice the price of protein. (Australia)

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## zempey

Ya, it isn't cheap, but I only use a half scoop per serving, which is a scoop and a half a day. I was looking for a quality carb that would get absorbed quickly due to the fact I train before I can eat. I just started back on heavy pyramid training and I was burning out, this is helping. There is probably a cheaper alternative, but I read about this brand and they had it at my supplement shop so I tried it. I spend 5 times that amount on beer a month so I can live with the price, I just cut back on my beer intake, lol.

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## Khazima

> Ya, it isn't cheap, but I only use a half scoop per serving, which is a scoop and a half a day. I was looking for a quality carb that would get absorbed quickly due to the fact I train before I can eat. I just started back on heavy pyramid training and I was burning out, this is helping. There is probably a cheaper alternative, but I read about this brand and they had it at my supplement shop so I tried it. I spend 5 times that amount on beer a month so I can live with the price, I just cut back on my beer intake, lol.


Hahaha definitely a good alternative to beer!

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## Khazima

Terrible day today gym wise, knee started aching as I warmed up, didn't get to squat at all and my lower back was so fatigued doing conventional Deadlifts after the first set that I couldn't complete the second, where there was only two programmed. 

Other than that the day was great, went from the gym to get a feed with some mates then the beach to play some footy and have a swim, the whether started out looking terrible and it cleared up and got sunny just in time.

I acquired quite the sunburn though, after hibernating for the last 8 months, any sun time cooks me like a roast chicken.. My whole body especially my shoulders and traps are burnt to a crisp. Really wish I wore sunscreen.

All of the equipment for my TB500 cycle has arrived now I'm just waiting on the product itself. I'm so keen to squat again. 

When I'm back into a surplus I'm thinking of squatting every day, 3 sets of 3 with a moderate weight and seeing the type of linear progression I can make doing that. 

Training my brother is going really well, he's training late tonight so I won't be at the gym with him today. 

His weight is trending down however he is inconsistent with when he weighs himself and whether it's after eating/wish clothes on etc, so I'm a bit on his case about that as I would need to adjust his macros accordingly. 

His is strength is skyrocketing especially when he gets the hang of an exercise like the bench press. I'm jealous of how fast he can make gains.

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## zempey

I would hold off on the everyday squats if your back is tired and knee is sore, give them a rest and start when things are healed up. I have been taking a very slow progression back to squats since the shoulder issue. I did hit a drop set of 4 reps at 405 with a drop to 315 for 8. My back felt good as did my knee, and my shoulder wasn't bothered by the bar so it was a good day for squats. My knee did start to squawk on my last set of presses at 10 plates a side, so it was getting tired.

Your brothers strength will go up quick for the first year, then it will become harder like it is for the rest of us once he reaches his limits, but having someone guide him properly will help further his limits more then he would have on his own.

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## Khazima

> I would hold off on the everyday squats if your back is tired and knee is sore, give them a rest and start when things are healed up. I have been taking a very slow progression back to squats since the shoulder issue. I did hit a drop set of 4 reps at 405 with a drop to 315 for 8. My back felt good as did my knee, and my shoulder wasn't bothered by the bar so it was a good day for squats. My knee did start to squawk on my last set of presses at 10 plates a side, so it was getting tired.
> 
> Your brothers strength will go up quick for the first year, then it will become harder like it is for the rest of us once he reaches his limits, but having someone guide him properly will help further his limits more then he would have on his own.


Yeah I don't plan on squatting daily until I've finished cutting, finished my TB cycle and have fully recovered injury wise. 

That's good your injuries held up! 

It's unfortunate how noob gains are wasted on the noobs! Im glad he's allowed me to guide him through it though, I certainly think that he'll progress much quicker and get much further with my help.

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## Khazima

Woke up at 68.4kg this morning, .6 lower than yesterday, probably due to being at the beach all day yesterday and getting relatively dehydrated. 

I'm so badly sunburnt today, my skin is ridiculously tight especially on my back, overhead pressing today is going to hurt.

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## jesse4466

> Yeah I don't plan on squatting daily until I've finished cutting, finished my TB cycle and have fully recovered injury wise. That's good your injuries held up! It's unfortunate how noob gains are wasted on the noobs! Im glad he's allowed me to guide him through it though, I certainly think that he'll progress much quicker and get much further with my help.


Just curious, why are u squatting everyday? Isn't that counter productive to your muscles growth?

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## Khazima

> Just curious, why are u squatting everyday? Isn't that counter productive to your muscles growth?


I'm not currently squatting every day, the plan is to increase overall weekly volume by squatting sub maximally every day. It's just another training method, one that looks like a lot of fun.

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## Khazima

Just finished my shoulders/arms workout, OHP didn't go as well as I wanted it to as my triceps were a little fatigued. Other than that the workout went really well. 

My sunburn hurt so badly doing close grip bench press, none of the other exercises required my back to be against anything and for close grip all of the weight was directly over the most cooked part of my back/traps. 

I've been practically drowning myself in aloe vera and had to get straight into the cold shower when I got home, especially since I was riding with the gym bag strap right on my trap and it's another 30 degree day. 

Pretty hungry right now can't wait to have some lunch. Probably going to do some cardio later I'll see how I feel.

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## Khazima

Today was a rest/refeed day, sitting at 2200 calories at the moment probably going to go for 2800-3100. Should be around 500g carbs.

Pumped to hit chest and back tomorrow. Sunburns still pretty bad to I'm guessing bench will be quite painful, hopefully it clears up a bit on my traps and upper back by the morning. I've still been saturating myself in aloe vera oil, had to go out and buy a second tube. 

Started off the morning with chocolate protein banana pancakes with chocolate chips, then had some chicken and potato with veggies for lunch. After that I had some low fat cookies and cream ice cream with chocolate topping and chocolate chips, as well as a thick shake which consisted of cookies and cream ice cream, lite milk and chocolate protein. 

Just now I had some yoghurt with strawberry topping and strawberry protein, the strawberry protein I've got turns yoghurt into mousse, it's sensational. 

Not sure what's for dinner yet but I smell something cooking and I can't wait, already starving and looking forward to dessert! 

Fats are sitting at around 40g at the moment, probably get to 60 with dinner and 65-70 by the end of the day, then 160 protein and roughly 500 carbs. 

Woke up at 68.8 this morning, so I must've been quite dehydrated after my day at the beach as I've put on a pound since yesterday morning. Probably going to wake up back around 69.5 after this refeed. 

After my last refeed I woke up at the exact same weight the next morning even though my calories were 500 over maintenance the day before, which I found strange.

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## Khazima

Woke up at 68.8 this morning, gained no weight after my refeed even though I went 500 calories over my TDEE, I'm not sure why this is, possibly it need to eat even more than that to fill myself with glycogen again? 

Got back from the gym just now after chest and back. Bench went well, I hit all my numbers and got 5 reps with 70lb dumbbells on incline bench, which for me is pretty damn good especially considering I'm cutting. 

Pull-ups are getting easier slowly, got 3 sets of 10 today usually I'll get between 6-8. For dips I strap a 25lb weight to myself and do max reps for 3 sets, today I got 10-12 usually it's 6-8, so my bodyweight trending down is making my bodyweight exercises much easier. 

Even though I refed yesterday I was quite out of energy today, perhaps it was due to not taking my normal preworkout and just had caffeine powder mixed with some staminade. So in turn my rest periods were longer which I assume contributed to my individual sets going well.

Afterwards I went to the store and bought some more yoghurt, and a new frying pan! I never thought I'd be so excited about new kitchen ware but I can't wait to use it as my other one at home is a mess and everything sticks, it's strained and scratched etc. I'm suuuuuper excited and about to cook some steak.

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## Khazima

Just got back from training my brother, he's starting to progress really well now that we've layed down a solid foundation of technique.

He's put 10lb on his 4x5 with bench for the last 3 sessions, 5lb each time for all of his pulling exercises. Around 3kg per session for his dumbbell shoulder pressing, and 10lb each time for his leg extension/leg curl superset. 

His ankle is still really busted up so were really limited in the exercises we can do for lower body, however today we found a pin loaded leg press machine that he can use with close to full ROM, so we'll be doing that superset with leg extensions from now until he can squat again. 

We also ran into one of his friends who I've seen occasionally for many years, and I passively pressured him into lifting with us since we always run into him and his girlfriend in the treadmill section. He's really good at taking advice and cues, and listens really well. He picked up benching after 1 simple explanation, same with standing OHP except for his weak core which causes him to struggle keeping his back straight when the reps get hard.

He got pale after a few sets of bench/rear delt flyes/incline crunches then lat pulldowns, and I felt kinda bad, he went white and said he felt like he was going to spew. Sometimes I forget not everyone is ready to superset multiple exercises they have never done with short rest breaks.

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## Khazima

Just got back from the gym, I was able to squat! I'm cheerin. Ended out doing 9 sets of easy paused triples and a set of 8 to finish it off, then 3 sets of easy Deadlifts, more for technique work. 

My knee began to become aggravated towards the 7-8th set so I'm probably going to keep squatting at once per week, and just do some accessories and Deadlifts the other leg day. 

I spent the whole time working on my low bar positioning and technique and I'm really liking it so far, I've found good placement with my hands and good bar placement as well. I may play around with a slightly wider stance as I feel this will put less strain on my knees, but slightly more on my hips.

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## Khazima

Some updated pics. 

Better pics to gauge weightloss progress.

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## Khazima

Just finished up with shoulders and arms, overall went quite well. I hit my numbers for the first 3 sets of overhead press and was running out of time so I decided to skip the fourth since I'd have to rest for 3-4 minutes before attacking it again. 

After that I did 2 sets of Seated dumbbell curls and 2 sets of Seated hammer curls standing after failure on each set to push it a little further.

Once that was finished I did some tricep pushdowns and went to begin close grip bench, when the strangest thing happened. Out of nowhere I started to feel a little queezy so I took a break and had a drink of water, then suddenly I felt like I was about to puke. So I ran to the toilet and leaned over the toilet bowl thinking it was going to get worse and my mouth just watered up really badly with that pre puke onset of saliva. I didn't end out spewing and called the workout there since I had to do an online quiz literally 10 minutes later and didn't want to make it any worse. 

I'm pretty sure it was due to not eating anything before the gym, I woke up late and had to rush to the gym with just enough time to drink my preworkout. 

I'm going to check my blood pressure tomorrow as I feel that may have something to do with it, since yesterday I was getting dizzy when I stood up even though I was well hydrated and fed. If anything up with my blood pressure or I get any more weird symptoms I'm going to go see the doctor and get a checkup/blood test. 

Other than that the session went really well and I came home and had a massive serving of chocolate protein pancakes. 

TB500 got through customs yesterday, so it should be here today or tomorrow at some point. 

I'm also considering beginning running the rest of my albuterol sometime next week, but I'll make that decision when I get there.

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## Khazima

Got to the gym much later than I prefer today, although I had a really challenging/enjoyable day. I had a business exam in the morning which went really well (really easy) then I had to train 2 random clients I've been given by the tafe, one being the 64 year old and another 53 year old nurse, which was fun and challenging, but great because there was less small talk (not my forte) and a lot of working out. Also my timing was on point, almost exactly an hour (a little over) which I always struggle with, with my brother.

Later in the day me and two others from my class had to go to an old peoples home to do an exercise session with older adults, none wanted to participate so the director asked if we were ok with going to the dementure unit to try it out, of course we said yes as we just wanted to pass. 

They were such a tough crowd, none wanted to join in and one lady had a go at us and just yelled at us saying get out, then tried to rally up the other older adults to leave with her when some of them were just starting to enjoy it. It was extremely challenging but a very good learning experience.

Once that was all over I finally get to the gym, only after a 45 minute car trip in a small car, completely packed, music blaring and people shouting in my ear. It put me in a terrible mood, gave me a headache and basically ruined my enthusiasm for the gym, I felt drained just from the day I'd had. 

I started benching and decided I'd just hit my bench numbers and would finish my workout tomorrow. Then I decided I was being a little bitch and pushed myself through the rest of the workout. Using supersets, dropsets and short rest periods I got through my whole workout in about 45 minutes and hit the same numbers as my last workout (as well as new bench numbers) and left feeling satisfied. 

Came home and had a huge dinner then some ice cream, which I slightly regret since it's only 9pm and I only have 50 calories left for the day. 

My TB500 also arrived, which I'm stoked to get underway with and fully rehabilitate my knee, and even my shoulder, which is not my primary focus but has been an issue for over a year.

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## Khazima

I'm going to use this as my TB500 log as well, I'll have something to go off tomorrow as I'll be squatting, so well see where my knee is at and where it's at when I'm done.

My shoulder gives me some grief and has for a long time so that'd be great if it healed. 

Just did my first pin, stung for a little while after nothing strange. Was pretty hesitant at first so I just stuck it in and got it done. First time I've pinned anything in a long time.

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## Khazima

Great day today, finished the final exam of my course, only roughly another 4 weeks until I'm officially a personal trainer! 

My knee was fine today and I did 6-7 sets of squats with low bar, with flat shoes today and I rather liked it. Worked up to a max of 120kg @ 68kg, definitely could've gone heavier but I didn't want to push the knee too hard. 

After that I did some Deadlifts and worked up to 4-5 singles at 140kg, mostly trying to work on my hip drop and sitting into the lift at heavier weights. Still struggling to find that sweet spot between my hips being to high and to low. 

Once I finished those I did some calf raises for the first time in weeks, they're going to be sore as hell and I'm not looking forward to it lol. I've been avoiding them because most calf movements except for seated calf raises put a lot of pressure through the knees, which I've been avoiding for obvious reasons. 

Me and a few mates went for a swim after that, since it was a hot say (got to around 32 degrees I think) played some volley ball n whatnot. It had me tired and I came home and passed out for about 5 hours with the fat on full blast right in my face. 

No reports on TB, first pin yesterday went well, and I'm damn keep to be injury free. 

About to go train my brother, which I'm always pretty excited for.

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## Khazima

Annnnnnd I'm home! Been at the beach all day.

Decided to do cardio first thing when I wake up, knock out 15-20 minutes quickly and see how that goes for me. 

Morning weight was 68.4 which is lower than it was only 4 days after a refeed last time. 

Went to the gym before the beach and did shoulders/arms, this time we decided to go to one of the gym franchises on the way instead of our home gym. I usually avoid this one as me and the owner have had a few minor altercations before.

So I finished my OHP which went really well, hitting all my numbers then finishing off arms getting a great pump and ready to move onto my final exercise, close grip bench. When the owner closes up the office and asks if he can work in with me.

We get to chatting and he turns out to be a real nice guy in the right setting, and even invited me and my mates to a small mock meet they'll be hosting during December. 

It's an awsome opportunity for us to get a feel for a meet and just to do something not incredibly competitive, and not requiring any fees etc. 

It's also going to be just in time with me getting back into a surplus for roughly a month, which means I'll more than likely be able to peak for it and beat my current maxes at the end of my last bulk, at a lower bodyweight. I'm pretty confident on that. 

Also started running albuterol again as of this morning, I took a 3mg dose in the morning and a 3mg dose in the afternoon, I was going to jump straight into 12mg daily as that's what worked for me last time. I'm glad I didn't, even with 3mg I felt it take effect shortly after, raising anxiety slightly and making me jittery.

I'm really happy with how the cuts going, and I'm more keen for it to be over!

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## Grymreefer

You look better than most! Keep it up. I'm going to start following this. As you look to be around my same development. I need to post some better pictures. One thing I notice that everyone does a lot is cardio? 
I personally feel I get enough playing indoor and outdoor soccer. What are your thoughts on how cardio should be integrated into a weightlifting protocol?

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## Khazima

> You look better than most! Keep it up. I'm going to start following this. As you look to be around my same development. I need to post some better pictures. One thing I notice that everyone does a lot is cardio? 
> I personally feel I get enough playing indoor and outdoor soccer. What are your thoughts on how cardio should be integrated into a weightlifting protocol?


Thanks man  :Smilie:  crafting a physique takes a very long time, and since I've let my physique take a backseat and focused on strength the gains have come nicely, until I started cutting, let myself get too fat lol.

Usually I'll do no cardio, I ride to and from the gym and walk around a lot, relatively active lifestyle so it's not a necessity. 

During the 4-5 weeks I've been cutting so far I've done cardio maybe 6-7 times. I'm just going to start integrating it more to speed the process up as I want to be in a surplus for a mock meet I'm doing in December. 

Playing soccer regularly is PLENTY of cardio, make sure to eat heaps of food on the days you play soccer. 

I think cardio should be integrated in one way or another, during bulking atleast twice a week for general health and cardiac function. Hardly anyone does though, including myself. It just means you have to eat more to make up for it.

During a cut cardio as often as you feel comfortable doing it, and without it interfering with recovery. If doing cardio the day before legs, do something like boxing, so you don't tax your legs too much. Days before upper body, cycle or run, as to not tax your upper body too much. 

That's my general approach to cardio, in a perfect world where we actually stuck to it  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## Grymreefer

You trying to look like your AVI in a few years? That is the quality of development I'm seeking. Thankfully im one of those random people that have baller abs no matter what so at least I got the midsection down. Now everything else has to follow. How old are you? and how long have you been consistently training?

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## Khazima

> You trying to look like your AVI in a few years? That is the quality of development I'm seeking. Thankfully im one of those random people that have baller abs no matter what so at least I got the midsection down. Now everything else has to follow. How old are you? and how long have you been consistently training?


Unlikely, a physique like that takes decades to earn, and the conditioning in the picture is very unhealthy, and extremely hard to maintain. 

I'm pretty lucky in the ab department as well, doesn't take too long for them to show, should have a visible 6 pack within the next month. 

I'm 20 this month, training consistently for about 15 months, started at 110lb got to 160 at my heaviest. How about yourself?

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## Grymreefer

I'm currently 23 years old. I've been one of those people who train off and on. Started when I was 17 in high school. Took weightlifting and advance strength and conditioning for credits. Did the bare minimum to pass. Wish I would have paid attention now because we did a lot of Olympic lifts which I would like to remember how to do correctly. Didn't get serious until the last year or so. Didn't see substantial results until the last 6-8 months. I have played with AAS. I took spawn in high school, though back then no one really knew what a pro hormone was in our school. We thought it was just an insane preworkout pill. I messed with testosterone before and after joining this forum I learned I did everything wrong and I am very lucky I didn't do any damage to my body.
Always a runner in school (cross country, soccer, high jump in track) Graduated at 160 at 6' 5''. Currently I am chillin at a cool 175. I was close to 190 a few months ago, but I just spent from august to a little into September sitting at the hospital wondering what was wrong with me.

Now I am back in the game! This time I'm taking things extremely slow. Pretty much restarting and going to get very methodical this time around. Goal is to be consistent and don't make excuses. I also stopped smoking pot which is something I did since I was 12-13. Hence my name  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

That's awsome man, patience is key. I use a very methodical approach as well, but when I'm actually in the gym it's just putting the work in. 

Yeah smoking pot has stopped a few of my friends progress, I'm a drug addict (not active) and got clean a month before I started lifting, found the weights in rehab. 

Weed was definitely one of the most demotivating drugs, and the one I stuck with for the longest.

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## Grymreefer

Ah drug addicton is a bitch. I won't go into details out in the open with what I did, but it took me a few overdoses and some moderate damage to my heart before I learned my lesson.
Drugs=bad. Even though i'm only 23 I feel I still wasted a large chunk of my life and definitely did irreversible damage that I still to this day worry when I'm just going to drop dead.

Glad your clean. Its nice to talk to someone else who also went down that pathway and found exercise to be a gateway out.
My appetite still hasn't returned to normal, yet. Only thing that's taking forever since I relied on a substance to make me hungry for so long.
Feels good being sober though doesn't it? Life is just more...enjoyable. Days don't smear into each other and productivity is something that actually happens in my life now!

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## Khazima

I know exactly what you mean, I only spent 5 years in active addiction and feel like I'm so far behind where I should be, in a way it's been a great life lesson as I've learnt a lot more through it than I have through anything else in my life, I've learnt a lot of life lessons the hard way in my short time here. 

It's great being sober, the hard part is maintaining it, when it becomes normal to be sober again and it becomes boring. Just gotta accept being an average joe and chasing productive dreams. 

It's a big reason I'm worried about jumping into AAS, fitness has already engulfed my life and drugs don't need to be added to the equation.

You're going to have to force feed yourself until your appetite is back, mine was terrible for the first 6 months of lifting then I started counting macros and realised how far behind I was, so I just ate until I hit what I needed to hit, now I have a massive appetite lol.

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## Grymreefer

ar-r methyl b12. I have actually seen some results from taking it. Though I have to take much more than if I did IM. I still feel the boost to my metabolism combined with a b complex. Its only a matter of time before my body readjusts to normality. I know what you mean by boring. I have just learned to use my time wisely. I personally trashed myself so much with drugs that I really don't have cravings. The memories are extremely vivid in my head still. It just took a couple near deaths to knock some sense into my head and I cut off anyone who touched anything in my life. It is kinda funny once you get sober. You realize "wow, the only thing I had in common with all these people was that we did drugs...that's it." That's not even a real friendship.

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## Khazima

> ar-r methyl b12. I have actually seen some results from taking it. Though I have to take much more than if I did IM. I still feel the boost to my metabolism combined with a b complex. Its only a matter of time before my body readjusts to normality. I know what you mean by boring. I have just learned to use my time wisely. I personally trashed myself so much with drugs that I really don't have cravings. The memories are extremely vivid in my head still. It just took a couple near deaths to knock some sense into my head and I cut off anyone who touched anything in my life. It is kinda funny once you get sober. You realize "wow, the only thing I had in common with all these people was that we did drugs...that's it." That's not even a real friendship.


Yeah ain't that the truth, especially the ones you used hard drugs with. The ones I drank and smoked with were life long friend but other than that it was just a bunch of junkies more than happy to throw each other under the bus.

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## Khazima

Rest/refeed day today. Woke up and did 20 mins cardio then had a big bowl of oats with milk and honey for brekky. 

Not really feeling that hungry today, not sure why but I'm about to cook up some meals for the next few days and eat one or two. 

Upping my albuterol to 9mg today, 3mg dose already felt like it had significantly less effect than yesterday's 3mg morning dose. So I've added one with lunch then another at 3-4pm. Tomorrow I'll start with a 6mg dose then 3mg in the afternoon, then most likely I'll stick with 6mg morn/noon from then on, and begin ketotifen when I feel tolerance start to build.

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## Khazima

So the idea was to refeed today, but since I have no money until tomorrow I decided to hold it off for a day so I can actually enjoy it and hit my refeed macros easily. 

If I did it today it would've been rice/potatoes and pasta for my carbs, and I prefer to enjoy my refeed by saving the things I crave for these days, like ice cream/lollies/milk shakes. 

Forgot to mention that I woke up at 67.9kg this morning, lowest I've been in quite a while. About 8 months ago I recall wanting to hit 65 so badly and struggling to eat enough, getting to 65 was such a milestone and now I'll be as lean at 66-67 as I was at 60 only 10 months ago. 

Definitely made some some serious gains over the last year, I did the calculation a while ago and it'd been about 9kg over 8-9 months. So I'm pretty happy with the fact that I gained close to as much as I could've in my first full year of lifting.

After cutting I'm hoping to put atleast another 5kg on over the next 12 months, maybe 6-7 if everything goes right. This might even be setting the bar too low. I know I have a lot of growing left in me, but I it's going to take time and I want to keep it realistic.

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## Khazima

The refeed has begun, had a skinny cow cup, some sour patch kids and some fruit loops post workout to kick off the day. Preworkout i just had some oats with honey, its always a perfect meal half an hour before a workout for me.

So today was bench/back, it went really well. I hit all my bench numbers easily and hit a rep PR on pullups. I got 13 with 1 or 2 left in the tank, i kinda wish i just went to failure but i decided to use some weight and attached a 10kg (22lb) plate to my waist and got about 8 out. I've never been able to do this so i was pretty happy with my performance today. Especially with the bench as i hit the numbers easily. 

Then on incline DB i got 70lb dumbbells for 9 reps on my second set, which ive also never been able to do. I just felt really strong today and was very happy with how the workout went. 

Talked to one of the gym hotties as well, which is out of character for me as i'm quite introverted and socializing really isn't my forte.

After that I went to the shops and grabbed a bunch of cheap workout clothes, plenty of good sales on atm so i decided to stock up. Also grabbed some chucks for squatting and deadlifting. Then it was to coles to get my refeed food  :Smilie: 

Pretty keen to hit legs tomorrow and since i can squat i'm just adding in the squats where it would've been, so basically skipped the first week of the programming for squats, plus its going off of a conservative max. 

Took 6mg albuterol this morning, and i'm not sure if it was due to that or just a strange day but i felt light headed the whole workout, almost like a high off speed, it was really strange and uncomfortable. 

Pure melatonin powder arrived just before as well, and i'm not sure how i want to dose it since its 10g of pure powder with no scoop and i'm starting with 1mg a night. I figure ill just use my 10mg scoop from my synephrine and add 10ml water to it, then dose 1ml of the water per night. Any other ideas welcome.

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## Meloncap78

Awesome log Khaz. Some great progress along the way. I can only hope to finally start seeing some progress of my own soon here. I suppose I should start a log for feedback and reflection purposes. It looks like you are well on your way.

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## Khazima

> Awesome log Khaz. Some great progress along the way. I can only hope to finally start seeing some progress of my own soon here. I suppose I should start a log for feedback and reflection purposes. It looks like you are well on your way.


Thanks man  :Smilie:  

It's a really useful tool to gauge progress, keep track of dates etc, and even keep track of the effectiveness of certain supplements/drugs.

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## zempey

I use a written log while I train, been doing it since I was young. My biggest regret is losing my book that had all my heaviest workouts in it during that phase of my life.. I left it at the gym or something and it was never returned, someone must have saw it and figured it was a great training log to use. I have a ton of them, but that one was the one I really wish I had. I remember adding up my weights on leg day once and it was over 100,000lbs, I used to gauge my intensity on how much weight I moved in a workout, lol.

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## Khazima

> I use a written log while I train, been doing it since I was young. My biggest regret is losing my book that had all my heaviest workouts in it during that phase of my life.. I left it at the gym or something and it was never returned, someone must have saw it and figured it was a great training log to use. I have a ton of them, but that one was the one I really wish I had. I remember adding up my weights on leg day once and it was over 100,000lbs, I used to gauge my intensity on how much weight I moved in a workout, lol.


I've seen that lately and it's a really interesting concept, gauging volume and intensity by total workload. I don't think I've fully grasped the concept yet though. Because lifting 100lb 10 times isn't the same as lifting 200lb 5 times? 

It'd be great if you could explain the concept and benefits of that method.

I tried logging on paper and I'm just not as consistent as I am with say fitocracy or this log. This is more for feelings and supplement/diet changes. Fitocracy is where I log my actual workouts.

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## Khazima

Legs went alright today, did 3 sets of 6, and I felt a little form breakdown which really frustrates me because my squat is usually my best most consistent lift, but after changing a few things it's throw me back a bit. Which is fine, I just need to keep working at it.

Something my mate noticed while I was deadlifting was a small amount of rounding just above my lumbar. It's strange because it's not form breakdown and my back feels fine during the movement. It may be because I'm used to lifting with a belt, or I'm not staying tight enough. 

I'm going to incorporate a front squat day because I feel like my quads aren't engaging as much as I'd like during squats and deadlifts. 

Other than those minor things it was a good session, I enjoyed it. Did a little knee prehab afterwards, just some leg extensions with really light weight and lots of reps. Superset that with calf raises.

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## zempey

I was just lifting so heavy and such high volume I started adding it up and was amazed. Like my first set of leg press was 600 for 50 reps, that's 30k lbs, or squats at 550 for 10 is 5500lbs. I tried to keep the work load over a certain number for legs, but not just by doing high reps with light weight, but balanced pyramids. It got to the point that I couldn't do it anymore naturally, wish I could have got some gear to help heal and handle the volume and weight. I'm not that serious now, I still train hard, but I was on a mission back then, to where I don't know, just obsessed.

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## Khazima

> I was just lifting so heavy and such high volume I started adding it up and was amazed. Like my first set of leg press was 600 for 50 reps, that's 30k lbs, or squats at 550 for 10 is 5500lbs. I tried to keep the work load over a certain number for legs, but not just by doing high reps with light weight, but balanced pyramids. It got to the point that I couldn't do it anymore naturally, wish I could have got some gear to help heal and handle the volume and weight. I'm not that serious now, I still train hard, but I was on a mission back then, to where I don't know, just obsessed.


That's how I feel right now, I'm on a mission to nowhere, just to be the best lifter I can I suppose.

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## Khazima

Woke up at 68.5 this morning, yesterday morning I woke up at 69.4 post refeed. 

Had some froot loops and headed to the gym for shoulders/arms. It was the last day of my 3 on 1 off split I'm currently running. I'll be continuing the progression of the split but I've changed the routine drastically, bar the main lifts. 

The Periodization article I posted really opened my mind to programming variables and I'm so excited to play around with new ideas I've got. This week will be;

Chest/back: 
Bench 
Bent over row
Incline DB press
Pull-ups
Dips
Dumbbell row

Legs:
Squat
Deadlift
Calf raise 

Shoulders/arms:
Overhead press
Facepull
Rear delt fly
Close grip bench
Tricep pushdown/
Cable curl
Seated DB curl
Seated hammer curl

Rest

Legs:
Pause front squat
Deficit deadlift
Calf raise

Chest/back:
Pause bench press
Wide grip bench press
Pullup
Dip
Cable row

Rest

To me it looks more like bench/squat/OHP/front squat/bench. But for the sake of any readers what's above is basically the split in bodybuilding terms. 

I'm super excited to start and feel like I'm making some strength gains on this cut. My 4 sets of 6 with bench the other day was the easiest the weight has been. I hit all the numbers without a single grind, then hit a rep PR on pull-ups and incline DB press. However I feel as though my squat has suffered. 

Not keen to rest tomorrow. Atleast it'll force me to do some work I've been procrastinating on.

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## Khazima

Rest day today, considering doing a mild refeed for the changes in my split as of tomorrow.

Currently at tafe, waiting to train a client, I'm supposed to train two clients but one has only been for 1/4 sessions. Which in my situation is fine as these aren't paid clients, it's just for the tafe. 

While waiting I did a couple light deadlifts for some technique work, and I'm really happy with how my conventional is coming along. Starting to find hip placement really nicely and playing around with my foot positioning a bit. 

My current goal for the deadlift is to hit 4 plates (30 kg increase). I'm doing a mock meet in December, I won't hit it then but I hope to hit it within 3 months of being back in a surplus, with my technique changes and current progress I believe it's achievable within 4-5 months.

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## Khazima

Kapow! Enjoyed today's session, I ended out doing the mild refeed yesterday, probably at near maintenance maybe a bit below. It didn't really help much though, I felt pretty out of energy today but still got through the session nicely.

Bench/back was on the cards today, bench went really well I hit my 3 sets of 4-6 reps nicely, then hit another rep PR on pull-ups! 14 this time, I'm pretty confident I'll hit a max effort set of 20 by the time I'm done cutting. 

Incline DB press didn't go as good today, only got the 70lb dumbbells for 6 on the first set then 5 on the second, so I went down to 60lb and got a clean set of 12 in. 

My shoulder was playing up today so I decided to pass on dips and do cable flys instead, definitely a good choice! 

I've got a standard leg day tomorrow, which I'm always keen for.

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## Khazima

Decided to chuck some more pics up, because I'm all about dat life.



My goal for this cut is basically to get low enough for my love handles to go, and allow my waist to look as small as it actually is. The layer around my hips really takes away from my midsection. However if I need to go into an unhealthy bf% for them to go, I'll just call it and accept it for what it is.

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## zempey

I think you are like most people when it comes to viewing yourself, you never think you look as good as you actually do. You are pretty lean and the "love handles" are nowhere near as noticeable as you think they are. There will always be some fat in places on the body in small amounts until you get below 7%. Just keep trying to add muscle and burn fat and those things will slowly diminish over time. I try and do lots of side knee raises when cutting to bring up the muscles on the side of my torso to offset the bits of fat in that area. Keep it up, looking good bro.

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## gbrice75

Great log, and nice job so far. The work you've put in is definitely noticeable. Back is coming in really nicely. Keep up the good work!!!

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## Khazima

> I think you are like most people when it comes to viewing yourself, you never think you look as good as you actually do. You are pretty lean and the "love handles" are nowhere near as noticeable as you think they are. There will always be some fat in places on the body in small amounts until you get below 7%. Just keep trying to add muscle and burn fat and those things will slowly diminish over time. I try and do lots of side knee raises when cutting to bring up the muscles on the side of my torso to offset the bits of fat in that area. Keep it up, looking good bro.


Thanks man, that probably is the case.. I've also mastered lighting to an extent! Haha. 




> Great log, and nice job so far. The work you've put in is definitely noticeable. Back is coming in really nicely. Keep up the good work!!!


Cheers brother  :Smilie:

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## uhit

Just out of curiosity are you tensing your core in those pictures? 

If you are, they look great, if not then my lord they are amazing

Either way your physique is shaping us nicely. Wish I could say the same for myself.

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## Khazima

> Just out of curiosity are you tensing your core in those pictures? 
> 
> If you are, they look great, if not then my lord they are amazing
> 
> Either way your physique is shaping us nicely. Wish I could say the same for myself.


Haha yeah I'm tensing and using the right lighting. 

Thanks for the kind words  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Just got back from the gym, lady friend came over last night and i think she's given me the flu! I'm really not keen on being sick or taking time off the gym, my programmings going really well and this could really chuck a spanner in the works. But I'll take it as it comes.

Soldiered through it today without to much of a struggle. Had 3 sets of 4-6 reps for squat, with 88% last tested 1rm, hit all sets of 6 pretty clean, barely any form breakdown and my knees have been cooperating nicely. 

After that I had 1 heavy set of deadlifts with 88% of my actual 1rm, from the peak of my bulk and I only got 4 reps and wasn't happy with my lumbar tightness, I'm going to take the weight down and really work on keeping my lower back tight and spine neutral consistently. 

So despite only feeling about 70% today it went well.

I'm really hoping to wake up fresh and well for overhead press tomorrow!

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## zaggahamma

Great work khaz

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## Khazima

> Great work khaz


Thanks man  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Post workout shoulders/arms pump, I'm about 2kg from my goal weight (66kg/12%BF)  

Shoulders and arms went really well today, hit all my numbers with OHP, 3 sets of 6 @ 85% 1rm, last tested at the peak of my bulk. 

After that I hit my numbers nicely with close grip bench, then moved on to pumping up the arms with some supersets/dropsets and some heavy straight sets. 

Feeling much better today than I did yesterday, I think my body fought off the sickness really well. Just my luck that the worst day fell on leg day! 

I kept my nutrition up and had enough calories yesterday so that probably helped, and I slept like a baby for about 8 hours, then another 2 hours after a break in my sleep.

I'm just about finished with austinites protocol with the synephrine/ECGC/chromium as I'm about to run out of ECGC, I'll be taking atleast a week off and probably have some more ECGC by the time the week breaks over. 

I've upped my albuterol dose to 9mg 2x daily for a total of 18mg, Even with 1mg ketotifen nightly my tolerance has been building. Last time I had a better experience upping my ketotifen dose, but I have a lot more albuterol than I do ketotifen so I'm upping the albuterol dose>the ketotifen dose. 

Nothing to report on TB500 progress, my knee cleared itself up quite nicely. I want to attribute it to TB500 to an extent but i feel it would have cleared up anyway. When it began to clear up it happened quick. 

My shoulder was playing up a fair bit yesterday, however it felt a lot better today which was a relief. There's definitely something wrong with the right rotator cuff, there's a crunching sound when I rotate it. It's been happening for a long time but it's been weaker than it should be and I'm sure it has something to do with my bench press lagging behind my other lifts (progress-wise). I'm hoping the TB500 helps clear it up.

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## Khazima

Woke up at 68kg this morning, went a bit over calories due to a family dinner and I tracked afterwards.. And it turned out to be 300 over what I wanted. 

I watched a few motivational videos before hitting some front squats and deficit deadlifts.. Ended out going ham in the gym, so much so that by the time I got to the deadlifts my leg DOMS had already started to kick it. By the time I got home just squatting down to pick something up is painful as hell.

It was a great session though and I'm glad I hit my quads so hard, because that was the goal. 

My electric blue converse lo tops arrived this morning, and damn they're a good shoe. Great for squatting, deadlifting and they look damn fine. Very happy with that purchase. 

My right knee started giving me a little trouble half way through the squats, I decided it was fine and to push through it, as well as keep it moving between sets to keep blood around the area. Turned out perfectly okay. 

Much happier with the way my knees were tracking over my toes today, and a little more happy with the improved lumbar tightness during deadlifts. 

I finished off with some speed straight leg deadlifts and I was absolutely fried by the second set, I'd been there for about 75 minutes going all out on front squats and deadlifts and just wanted to finish off the hams a little. 

After that I was totally fried and it was time to go home and take a shower. 

Took another 2mg TB500 just before, it seems injecting subq on the left side hurts more than the right side, and I've done both and the right side hasn't had any problems at all. More than likely something to do with my technique though.

----------


## Khazima

Finished with my pause bench/wide grip bench day today. I've dedicated a whole day to building power off my chest as that's the weakest point in my bench. It follows the same linear rep scheme my other days do.

I did 3 sets of bench, 4-6 reps with a 2-3 second pause. Then 4 sets of wide grip bench, 6-8 reps touch and go. I've been playing with my set up again and instead of digging my traps right into the bench and creating more of an arch I've found it a lot more comfortable to lift myself off the bench, retrat the scapula then try to bring my hips up creating more of an arch.

I tweaked my shoulder slightly last night while training my brother, and it gave me quite a bit of grief today. Tomorrow's a rest day then it's bench again, if it's still giving me trouble I'll have to switch my squat and bench day around.. If it still hurts I'll just take another rest day for do a lower body power day. 

I've woken at 68.0kg consistently the last 4 days, I was thinking of taking another 100 calories off my daily intake but once I added up the total weekly average I've decided not to, since I lost .5 (my weekly goal) anyway. The week before it was .25 so I pulled my head in when it came to cardio and got it done. Seemed to have worked a treat.

I'm currently icing my shoulder and applying ice gel to it, I'm hoping it gets better ASAP as there's a mock meet I really want to participate in during December. After that I plan to go really easy on my shoulders and let the TB-500 get to work, while I focus more on my squat and deadlift.

Came home and had a massive steak, some greens and 300g sweet potato. It was a splendid lunch but I didn't realise the cut of steak I was using would put such a dent in my calories -.- it was well worth it though  :Stick Out Tongue:

----------


## zempey

If your shoulder is tweaked be mindful of the wide grip, it beats the crap out of my shoulder so my grip is more narrow now and most of the pain is gone.

----------


## Khazima

> If your shoulder is tweaked be mindful of the wide grip, it beats the crap out of my shoulder so my grip is more narrow now and most of the pain is gone.


Yeah I think that's what made it worse, i had it programmed and my shoulder felt about 80% so I went ahead with it and it felt about 60% by the end. Just feels like such a valuable exercise for strength off the chest. 

Probably going to rest the shoulder up and let the TB-500 get to work while I finish off this cut. Then get back into some serious weight as I start bulking again.

----------


## zempey

I never could get the mind muscle connection using the wide grip, it only hurt my shoulder.

----------


## Khazima

> I never could get the mind muscle connection using the wide grip, it only hurt my shoulder.


I think it's a very leverage based exercise, for me it's less about getting a mind muscle connection and more about shortening my ROM/building power off the chest. The stretch I get is amazing though, the contraction not so much but my pecs are basically stretched out throughout the entire ROM.

----------


## Khazima

Today's been a rest day, a much needed one at that. My shoulder feels fine maybe 80% so I'm hoping it feels atleast 90% by tomorrow so I can bench. If not I'll just switch the days up to give it an extra day to recover. 

Decided to refeed today since I haven't in quite a while, just didn't feel like I needed it. Since tomorrow is a heavy day whether it's bench or squat I'll be needing the energy. 

I'm thinking of using a keto/refeed approach for the rest of my diet. Essentially by having as little carbs as possible throughout the week, then refeeding once a week. Also while doing that I'll adjust my split to suit it, by doing my heavy days for the first few days after a refeed, then power/glycogen depletion workouts for the rest of the week. 

I've found a really awsome program by bodybuilding dot com, which is super uncommon as they're usually all bro splits or just plain shit. When I took a look at this one I was pleasantly surprised at how well layed out it is, and how basic yet advanced the training principles are. A doctor spent months in a lab with an athlete to figure out the ideal training/nutrition and supplement program. I really like the look of the training program but tbh I think the nutrition is overhyped and the supplement guide is more of a marketing scheme. Which is completely understandable as it's funded by a supplement company. The best part.. It's free, and really good with the newest research on training and nutrition. 

I feel like I'm trying to sell it myself lol, I just can't wait to give it a try myself as the way it's set out is my type of split and my type of training. 

Sitting at around 250 carbs atm, less than 10 fat and about 90 protein. Planning on hitting about 450-500 carbs, 20-30 fat and 130-150 protein.

----------


## Khazima

Ended out having 400g carbs for my refeed, tried to use any carbs that won't keep like my bananas and some opened yoghurt since I'm swtitching to a keto/refeed approach from today on. 

So far I'm at about 1000 calories with less than 10g carbs from some greens. I'm loving the idea of having my hard days after my refeeds then doing hypertrophy/glycogen depletion workouts. Should be a fun experiment.

Training went well today I did 3 sets of 3 with 90% 1rm on squats, then I was supposed to do 2 sets of 3 with 90% on Deadlifts but since I'm doing beltless and I've cut a lot since last testing I ended out doing 85% of my all time 1rm for a set of 3, after doing a set of 80% for 3. The 85% set was a bit of a grinder but I filmed them and I'm really happy with the way my forms looking now. Just need to work on that lower back tightness. 

One of my bottles of albuterol ran out last night so today was the first day with the new one, from another brand. Boy it's potent. The taste is chemically and it's so harsh it's like taking a straight shot of harsh vodka. I took 10mg (2ml) since this is 5mg per ml when usually I take 9mg of 6mg per ml (1.5ml) and within half an hour I felt jittery and slightly anxious, started getting some shakes and really feeling it get to work. Since I got my TB-500 from the same place I'm ecstatic about the quality as (logically thinking) the TB should be gold as well. 

Shoulders feeling pretty good probably going to give pressing a rest for a bit longer, I'll just do back tomorrow then legs again the day after, then rest, then press and we'll see how it goes. My knee started to play up on the second rep of my last set of squats, which was lucky timing but unfortunate to know that it's not fully repaired yet.

----------


## Khazima

Just finished a chest/back workout. Probably shouldn't have done cardio yesterday I feel like I wasted some glycogen for today. I'm going to save cardio for the 3 days before my refeed, and save as much energy as possible for my heavy days. 

Workout went really well though, I hit my numbers nicely I had 3 sets of 3/2-4/1-2 reps and hit 3/4/2 which I was happy with. Then 3 sets of pull-ups in which I got 12/10/10 reps. I moved onto incline and started with a warmup weight, which aggravated my shoulder so I decided to stay light on it and really stretch and contract my chest.

So out of energy right now though, it's so hot today I can barely think enough to log properly.

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## bw2506

Interested in reading onthe workout. Where can i find it

----------


## Khazima

> Interested in reading onthe workout. Where can i find it


Bodybuilding.com - Project Mass: Jake Wilson's 14-Week Muscle-Building Trainer

----------


## Khazima

Just got back from a deadlift/power session. Funny thing happened, I dropped a deadlift (as you do.. It's a deadlift) making some noise, and a guy looked at me and goes 'really?' I said what? And he said something I couldn't make out with a strong accent he had. I proceeded to say it's a gym, if you want silence go to a library. Then he said something in his accent and all I made out was 'scared me' and he had a smile, so I just smiled back and felt bad.. Just proves to myself I'm not a mean person lol I snapped back pretty quickly and felt bad afterward..

My shoulders thrown a spanner in the works so I decided to do a deadlift/Glute/power workout. Started off with some kettlebell swings to get the glutes firing then worked up to a heavy single on Deadlifts, followed by the second triple I was supposed to do the other day. 

Then I just did a bunch of sets for speed with 2 plates, just 2-3 reps concentrically accelerating as fast as I could. Inbetween/after those I did some speed doubles and triples on the bench, shoulder felt fine with those so I did about 5-6 sets as fast as I could with 20-30 second rests. 

Also did some experimenting with pentlay rows, I've done them before but I've never done them as a part of my workout. Did abut 4 sets of 3-5 reps for speed and explosiveness really trying to engage my lats not my lower back or traps shrugging up the movement. I quite liked them and think I'll incorporate a power day and see how it works for me. 

Once all that was done I was pretty exhausted, decided to hit calves hard and do some glute ham raises which I've never done properly either. I liked it a lot, really engages the hamstrings hard and I think it could have some serious carry over to the deadlift. 

Ended out being a really long session, almost cardio but I was having fun trying lots of things for my deadlift/power. 

When I got home I realised I had a call from a potential employer, which is really exciting because I haven't worked in quite a while and it'd be awsome to have more money than i currently receive. 

Drugs: (lol)
The new brand albuterol I'm using is either super potent or they've just given me clen . Within half an hour to an hour I start to feel shaky and my heart rate rises. It lasts a lot longer than the albut from ar-r . So I'm thinking they've just given me clen, I'm using less than 1/3 of the dose to the same effect, only dosing in the mornings. 

At night I'm still taking keto/melatonin and last night I was having the wildest dreams. At one point i was in an underground lab sort of thing and there were these strange monsters that were eating all the animals and people. I'm about to get killed by one when some sort of caterpillar slingshots me into the air, caccoons me mid air and we last in a gigantic gelatin block. We come out of the block and he tells me to focus and think about teleporting to another planet, and as were about to die we quickly teleport back to his home with all his friends, and we're on a never ending run from these monsters. It was the strangest thing lol. 

Anyway.. It's been quite a log.. Time to eat.

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## Khazima

I intended on doing arms today, since my routine is all messed up and I did power yesterday I was going to do arms today and rest tomorrow. However since I was supposed to go skydiving this morning I woke up early, then it got postponed because of whether so I went back to bed and woke up at 1. So I'm taking my rest day today  :Smilie:  

Pretty keen on hitting bench/OHP tomorrow if my shoulders will allow it. If not I'll just bench and hit back. Then legs the day after, hopefully that'll be enough total rest for me knee to allow me to do a front squat session. 

Been really hungry today, might be because I haven't taken my albuterol but I've got 700 cals left for the day and could easily eat 1500 without being fully satisfied. Can't wait to get back to bulking lol. 

Took my calories down another 100 to speed the process up a little, next few days will have cardio everyday before my refeed and I get paid tomorrow so I'll be able to buy the food to properly implement a keto approach. 

It's my birthday on Tuesday which is exciting, turning 20! Won't be doing anything exciting just going hitting the gym and going out to dinner with the family  :Smilie: 

I've been cutting for about 8 weeks now, and have decided to go for 2 more weeks until I either go back to bulking, or atleast go back for 2-3 months for the sake of my hormones and growing body. I don't want to cut for any longer than 10 weeks due to the damages an extended deficit can have on a growing body and it's hormones.

----------


## Khazima

Just got back from hitting chest/back, I was supposed to hit chest/arms but did a couple pull-ups and one thing lead to another.. 

I hit a rep PR on bench, 190lb for 4 reps @ 150lb which is pretty good for me, considering my bench is my weakest link in the big 3 and has lagged behind due to shoulder issues. 

190x4 is a projected max of about 210lb and I always smash my projected maxes, so it may finally be my time to hit a 2 plate bench. Which is really surprising considering I'm almost 5kg (11lb) lighter than I was hitting 198lb. 

Super excited to max later in the week/next week. Going to take 5-6 days off benching to let my shoulder fully recover then max out fully rested. I'm really hoping to be able to squat tomorrow as well as I'm supposed to go for a rep PR but I doubt my knee is going to allow it. If not I'll probably go for my deadlift then hit squats the day after and 2 days after. 

I've found myself developing an addiction to caffeine. Without some caffeine my workouts suffer and it's a really useful appetite suppressant when I get hungry later on in the day. I suppose there could be worse and it's not dramatically harmful to my health.

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## Khazima

It's my birthday! Yeww, officially not in my teens anymore. 

However it's been an unfortunate day at the gym. My knee felt pretty good going into the gym but about half through warming up my squat the knee go really and really quick. Ended out doing a few deadlifts and a little bit of shoulders. 

Pretty depressing but whatever, I'll probably take tomorrow off then workout Thursday and Friday then deload for 9-10 days while I finish off my cut and prepare myself for the new program.

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## RaginCajun

Happy birthday!

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## Khazima

> Happy birthday!


Thanks man  :Smilie:

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## zempey

Happy belated Birthday.

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## Bodacious

x2 man.

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## Khazima

> Happy belated Birthday.





> x2 man.


Cheers fellas  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Pretty boring day today, not much to report and not much I can do if I choose to workout.

My knee gave me way to much trouble yesterday so I'll be laying off it completely and maxing the next time my knee allows me to squat. 

Plan on maxing my bench tomorrow, then hitting some chest/back, possibly maxing my deadlift the day after then resting another day, after which I'll hopefully be able to max my squat and start my deload.

Yesterday was my final refeed and I'm going to spend the last 2 weeks of my cut really trying to prime for my bulk. I'll probably spend most of my deload week resting and doing short bouts of cardio every day while in as bit of a deficit as I can handle (probably no more than 600-700). 

I'm really excited to see where my bench is at, my squat has regressed on this cut and my deadlift has stayed pretty much the same, but my bench has definitely improved. I'm not sure if it's largely due to the cut or the injuries but I'm not complaining lol. 

So keen to get back to making some gains.

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## Khazima

My 1000th post wewwwww! Thought I might as well make it in my log ^.^ 

Bout to go max on bench, don't have a spotter so I'm gonna look like a dick if I fail lol. Just had some eggs and a sugar free energy drink, feeling pretty good.

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## zempey

I was able to get 3 reps at 275, had a guy to spot and make sure I didn't have to roll it down my chest, lol.

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## Khazima

> I was able to get 3 reps at 275, had a guy to spot and make sure I didn't have to roll it down my chest, lol.


Haha it's a terrible feeling when you're that guy being pinned down by a barbell struggling to get out. 

The bench at my gym has safety bars so it's fine, perfect for 1rms.

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## GirlyGymRat

Shoot. I missed the birthday cake  :Frown:

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## Khazima

Session went like shit, hit my current PR easier than usual but I was expecting atleast a 5kg increase with the way my benching had been going. I jumped the gun to early and jumped 5kg instead of 2.5kg because my initial lift went up so easily. Pretty disappointed but whatever, I know I'll hit my goal soon into bulking.

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## Khazima

> Shoot. I missed the birthday cake


Hahaha dw I saved you a piece  :Birthday Cake:

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## Khazima

Squats and Deadlifts went really well today, I initially planned on maxing just my squat if my knee would allow it. It did and I hit just shy of 2x bodyweight with low bar (recently switched) then for deadlifts i hit a bodyweight PR with 2.2x bodyweight. I'm really happy with the progress I've made during this cut, as I was expecting to digress not progress! 

My bench max was a lot smoother and easier, at lower BW. Squat got slightly weaker, went a lot smoother, technique is better and I've been dealing with the knee issues the whole time. Then, deadlift got slightly weaker, after squatting and I was a lot happier with my form. 

Very successful cut, I don't plan on getting that much leaner. I'll be cutting pretty aggressively for another week and a half, then back to bulking on the road to a 2 plate bench and 4 plate deadlift.

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## Khazima

Resting today and tomorrow, the deload grind has begun. I'm going to stay out of the gym as much as I can handle until Monday week. If I do go to the gym it'll only be to hit some arms/back so I won't be aggravating any injuries and giving them a much needed break. 

It's hard to take time off from the gym.. But i just need to keep thinking about the bigger picture. Especially the fact that every time I deload I come back and smash PR's and gain strength like crazy. 

I'm really hoping I can recover enough to have a relatively pain free 14 week training block. There are 'deload' weeks during the cycle but they're just dramatically cutting down volume to allow recovery. If need be I'll use them as proper deloads to let any niggling injuries recover for the next mesocycle.

GPA worlds is on this weekend, a mate and myself are going to see the big boys tomorrow. Should be awsome.

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## uhit

How many calories are you on average consuming daily?

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## Khazima

> How many calories are you on average consuming daily?


2000

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## energizer bunny

Great Log mate!.......

Excellent progress and dedication! well done.

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## Khazima

> Great Log mate!.......
> 
> Excellent progress and dedication! well done.


Thanks man  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Had a rest day yesterday and went to GPA worlds. It was super awsome seeing Eric Lillibridge, Brandon Lilly and Dan Green lifting, kind of surreal. I got to meet Chris Duffin, see a world record squat (450kg) and a world record total (1080kg). The whole day was a lot of fun and it's awsome to see powerlifting growing so fast. The seats were packed well before the action was under way and there was people standing around everywhere filling the exhibition hall. 

So the deload workouts have started, I hit some arms today and just did a bunch of curls and some pushdowns to satisfy my craving to workout. Probably going to hit some light back tomorrow or some some posterior chain work. Really trying to give my CNS as much rest as possible before this next training block. 

Started back up on the albuterol today. Getting some shakes, elevated heart rate and mild anxiety. It's strange I needed 2x9mg doses and 1mg ketotifen from ar-r and this brand I have 1 '5mg' dose once a day and it feels like it lasts the whole day and gives me way more sides. Leads me to think it's clen as I've already stated. 

Doing a lot more cardio this week and slightly under eating before bed if I can handle it. I'll be reverse dieting for a few weeks into the training block so I may get leaner still, and continue with the albuterol.

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## Khazima

Just did another deload workout. Woken up at 67.6kg every day for the last 5 days but using an averaging method I've still lost .25 this week so it's fine. I'm pretty done with cutting, i wouldn't mind being a bit leaner but honestly it's counterproductive to my goals and I need to get back to growing. 

Woke up dosed my albuterol and did some cardio then went to gym for another deload workout. Did some moderate singles on squats and a few sets of paused bench triples or sets of 5. Then I worked my calves properly, since they've been neglected lately since I keep experiencing pain where my calf connects with the hamstring. Likely tendon related.

Edit: Just got an email from the TAFE, i've officially passed my cert 4 in fitness and am a qualified personal trainer  :Smilie:  now on to diploma..

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## Khazima

Resting again today.. Pretty boring. Super keen to get started on this program and making some gains. I'll probably reverse diet for the first two weeks and add 50-100 calories every few days. Then depending on what my weight is doing I'll add/maintain the calories once I'm at atleast 2700. That should be a nice surplus of 250-300. 

Hitting cardio every day this week, the scale is still sitting on 67.6 as it has for the last 6 days but I'm looking leaner and leaner.

My knees are definitely feeling better, doing some moderate weight squats aggravated my right knee a little, which I expected since I noticed it flaring up slightly during cardio in the morning. It wasn't to the point where I couldn't squat and some technique adjustment practically made it stop. 

Shoulders also felt great doing some moderate bench press which is an awsome sign. I really hope my shoulders don't give me too much grief for the next training block because it will and always does throw a spanner in the works.

I noticed my elbows flaring up slightly just while I was demonstrating an exercise while training my brother. Thinking of getting some compression cuffs to see if it has any effect. Rubbing ice gel on the days I'm pressing usually helps and also numbs my shoulder well enough for my to able to get through the session. 

Probably going to go in and hit some fluff work like some arms tomorrow.

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## Khazima

Decided to do some moderate gym work on the way back from an appointment I had today. Started off with a few sets of bench press, shoulder is feeling great. Then I did some triples of power cleans, some pull-ups and a bunch of rotator cuff work. 

I'm trying super hard not to aggravate anything and give all my minor injuries the best chance of recovery before I hit the gym hard.

Down to 67.1 this morning, looking pretty lean, don't even need lighting to show my abs now and I don't have a tan. Love handles are still there but I'm not worried, I'd have to keep cutting for atleast another month or two to get lean enough for them to go away.

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## Khazima

I've decided to (more than likely) start my program tomorrow, rested all day today again and I'm probably going to have some sort of mild refeed to prepare for tomorrow. 

The program calls for 3 sets of squats then leg press, in which I was going to switch for front squats since I'm not a fan of the leg press. However I'm scared for my knee and think I'll just do 5 or 6 sets of squats. Low bar back squat aggravates my knee the least so this is probably the best route but we'll see how I'm feeling when the time comes.

Injuries feel great, shoulders feel better than they have in quite a while, knees aren't aggravated at all but they haven't been tested at all besides a couple bodyweight squats to see how it felt and it felt much better than usual. 

Pinned 1.5mg TB-500 decided to do it a little earlier than scheduled because I seem to feel better, more lubricated the day after taking it and quite frankly I'm scared of my knee flaring up lol. 

Ordering more on Monday, as well as mod GRF 1-29 and GHRP-2 hopefully it'll arrive within the week. 

Hit 67.0kg this morning, which was actually my goal weight but I don't look how I expected even though I'm significantly leaner than I was. 

I'll be continuing this log through my gaining phase as well, going to be in a 250 surplus one I figure my cals back out and gaining 2lb a month hopefully at least half being muscle.

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## Khazima

Took these yesterday, 10 weeks total, 5kg lost. Pretty sure the one is red is a little more than 10 weeks old, but it represents nicely how fluffy I was  :Stick Out Tongue: 



Weak lighting btw, already got a bunch of photos with half natty lighting  :Smilie: .

----------


## uhit

> Took these yesterday, 10 weeks total, 5kg lost. Pretty sure the one is red is a little more than 10 weeks old, but it represents nicely how fluffy I was 
> 
> 
> 
> Weak lighting btw, already got a bunch of photos with half natty lighting .



Wow brother. Thats AMAZING progress. Got a lovely foundation for a mad bulk now

Keep it up, brings me inspiration to start my cut!

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## Khazima

> Wow brother. Thats AMAZING progress. Got a lovely foundation for a mad bulk now
> 
> Keep it up, brings me inspiration to start my cut!


Thanks brother  :Big Grin:

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## zempey

Looking good bro, now hit a nice clean bulk.

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## Khazima

> Looking good bro, now hit a nice clean bulk.


Thanks man  :Smilie:  that's the plan, should be able to make some great progress since I know my body and the way i respond to certain ways of training a lot better now.

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## Khazima

Just finished the first session of the new program and damn it was hard, I'm not used to doing so much volume. On the cards was;

Squat 4 sets of 3 reps
Deadlift 4x3
Front squat 4x3 (did 2-3 second pauses instead of going up in weight)
Romanian deadlift 4x3

Usually a leg day using that rep range for me is something like;

Squat 5x3
Deadlift 2x3

And with the intensity used it's usually plenty and my legs respond really well to it (strength specific training). So this was a shock and DOMS kicked in as I started Romanian Deads lol.

It was really fun to hit some volume and an awsome welcome back to training. Knees held up just fine which is why I chose to pause the front squats instead of go up in weight because I didn't want to push it too hard. 

Super keen for push day tomorrow. 

2200 calories today, had 2600 yesterday which was much needed for the leg session I had no idea was in stall! I'll be going up in increments of 100 cals every 2-3 days until I'm at 2750, which I'll maintain for a week or two to see where weight gain stands then adjust from there. Aiming to gain 2lb a month.

Thanks for following everyone  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Just finished my first push session of the program, damn it was a lot of pressing. I'm not used to so much volume on the presses and auto-regulating weight. Workout was;

Flat bench 4 sets of 3 reps
Overhead press 4x3
Incline bench 4x3
Close-grip bench 4x3

Was rather strange doing 3 reps on the incline lol, felt pretty good though. 

Increased my calories by 200 yesterday and woke up .1 lighter than I have before. So still on a cut basically and reverse dieting out of it. I'll increase calories by 100 tomorrow. 

Legs are super sore after yesterday, definitely not used to that kind of volume. 

Pull strength should be interesting, 3 reps on bent over rows and 3 rep pull-ups. Never done either before really. I'm pretty skeptical about the rep schemes with things like the pull day but I'll give it a chance to see how it goes.

Shoulder held up pretty well today, I skipped a set of OHP to be safe and I definitely felt my right (worst) shoulder was getting a lot more fatigued than my left. It feels fine now though which is a good sign.

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## Khazima

So the fist strength microcycle is done! Today was;

Bent over rows 4 sets of 3 reps
Weighted pull-ups 4x3
Barbell curl 4x3
Barbell shrugs 4x3

The rep scheme for some of the exercises is very new to me, especially a 3rm bicep curl lmao, feels like such a bro thing to be maxing out on a bicep curl then doing shrugs for 3 reps and i really had to focus on using my back on the bent over rows instead of using momentum and my arms too much. Strength pull is definitely a lot easier than legs/push strength days. Still enjoyable.

Tomorrow is an optional rest day and i'm going to take the option of not resting lol, time for the first hypertrophy microcycle. The volume is crazy so it's going to be interesting to see what my stamina is like now, and legs is the hardest of the 3 days.

I confirmed today with the gym owner about a mock meet they're hosting on the 20th, it's interferes with my programming but i'm just not going to peak for it, and the weak of the meet i'll decrease volume and acclimate myself back to low reps, which i'm already pretty close to since i have 3 or 4 reps on my lifts in the first few weeks of the program. 

Calories up to 2300 today. I overate yesterday up to 2500 calories and maintained, probably lost a small amount of weight so this has me thinking since i had scheduled refeeds and it was only a 10 week cut that reverse dieting will be quite unnecessary so it'll be a quick process, probably add 50-100 calories a day until i'm at 2700-2800 a day where i'll maintain and gauge the progress from there.

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## Bodacious

Damn good work man.. keep it up..

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## Khazima

> Damn good work man.. keep it up..


Thanks bro  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Figured i'd log before i workout in case i don't make it back.. 10 reps on squat, something i haven't done for a long time. Straight after that leg extensions, which i'm hoping don't aggravate my knees to badly especially using only 10 reps. I'll have to go by feel with that one. 

Had me a good meal before i begin to mentally prepare myself to destroy myself with this workout. 

Time to break the heart and soul of some muscle fibres.

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## Khazima

That was one of the hardest sessions i've done in a while, certainly wasn't ready for so many sets of high reps. Usually my lower body days just consist of 5-10 sets of squats doing 3-5 reps and deadlift 2-3 sets of 1-3. Today i did;

Squat 4 sets of 10 reps
Leg extensions 4x10
Leg press 4x10
Weighted hyper-extensions 4x10
Lying leg curls 4x10
Seated calf raise
Superset with
Calf raise on leg press 4x10

Already had pretty bad DOMS by the time i was doing calves. I was was off my projected 10rm since i'm not conditioned for squatting anything over 3 reps right now basically. Should be fine within a few weeks. 

It was very enjoyable to push myself in a way i haven't for a while, very challenging. Super excited to have a crack at the hypertrophy push day!

----------


## Khazima

Just got home from the first hypertrophy push workout and man it is incredible how unconditioned i am to this volume now the workout was;

Flat dumbbell press 4 sets of 10 reps
Incline barbell bench 4x10
Dumbbell shoulder press 4x10
Lateral raise 4x10
Lying tricep extension 4x10
Rope pushdown 4x10 

After just the first 4 sets of dumbbell presses i was completely gassed at anything over 6 reps, on the incline i had to go really light. The first 6 reps would just fly up then the last 4 would slow right down with the 10th being a grind. 

Then moving onto dumbbell press i grabbed a warmup weight and couldn't even hit it for 4 lmao i was astounded. Had to use about half my normal weight to get the 10 reps, once again at 5-6 i would completely gas out. Lateral raises were fine but even the tricep extensions were just not there.

It's exciting though because not having done this type of training for quite a while i'll get quite the response from my muscles, and now i'm feeding them what they need they have no choice but to adapt and grow  :Smilie:  

Pull hypertrophy tomorrow which i'm guessing will go a bit better since my back is usually trained in that rep range, however not with as much volume.

Also confirmed registration with the mock meet at the gym, should be good fun, 17 days until that and i'll probably stall my programming to do a short peak for it. 

I'll do the programmed strength days my program requires minus the accessories, then the next week work with singles and doubles with low volume and rest a day or two before the meet.

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## RaginCajun

great work Khaz! just goes to show that hard work pays off!

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## Khazima

> great work Khaz! just goes to show that hard work pays off!


Cheers man  :Smilie:

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## iamxclusive

sweet log man thanks for the advice

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## Khazima

> sweet log man thanks for the advice


Thanks man, no worries  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Kapow! bet you though i was gonna miss a log today! 

Got a call last night from a landscaper looking for a laborer to do some work, from the time he called i basically had 8 hours to get up, and i usually sleep at least 8 so i went straight to bed and got up at 5am, got my food ready and had a good meal. 

I completely forgot how ridiculously hard landscaping is (not the gardening kind) first 10 mins i was dripping in sweat and the lower back pump made me want to cry. within 3 hours i decided i needed to pace myself because the pain i was experiencing from all different angles was becoming too much to continue with the intensity i was using. 

First thing was digging trenches with a mattock and excavating the front lawn, which took 3-4 hours of straight digging and shoveling. Then the last 3.5-4 hours was spent shoveling mulch out of a truck into buckets then carrying them upstairs to the garden beds. 

Last time i started a landscaping job i was 2 weeks into working out, trying to keep clean at the time. After the first day i was so tired i didn't workout and never worked out again, not long before failing to keep clean and my drinking problem picking up heavily with the money i was making. So this time i decided no matter how tired i am i'm going to the gym and the workout went fine, tried a new PWO n.o xplode 2.0 and it's great, awsome clean energy, intense focus and good pumps. Of course i had a massive meal with plenty of carbs before going as well.

It was funny sitting on the train with so many people looking at me covered in dirt wearing a white tshirt and face covered with grime. 

The workout required more intensity and i hit all the reps with a similar weight to what i'd expect, however i continued to gas around 6-7 reps, it almost feels that as soon as my ATP system is gassed, that's it for the set.. it's over lol unless it's light enough weight i can use to predominantly use the anaerobic system.

No idea how many calories i burned working but i'd guess upwards of 1500, 8 hours of balls to wall digging and sweating literally all day. 

Super tired now and ready to go to sleep and get back at it again tomorrow. Rest day from the gym as well, which is lucky since my next workout is 16 max effort sets for legs.

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## Khazima

Thank fvck it was a rest day today, ended out labouring for 9 hours with the last two packing away the entire site. I was so tired by the end of it that each sweep of a broom felt like attempting a 1 rep max. 

Cheerin it's over, it's completely ruined my calorie set up lol because the work puts a massive variable in my TDEE, so I'm just going with a calculators estimation and eating 3.3k in theory putting me in a 200 surplus. I'm probably going to end out needing more than that because I'm pretty sure I'm burning more than 1000 calories, and 2300 is what I was using to reverse diet to 2750. 

Working again tomorrow which I'm excited about, including tomorrow I'll have made about 350 dolla in 3 days which is 150 less than I get a fortnight atm. 

Got legs strength afterwards as well, should be a fun challenge  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## carolinalifter

Awesome write up man with some sweet results. Exaclty the shape I am shooting for by summer time, very motivational!

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## Khazima

> Awesome write up man with some sweet results. Exaclty the shape I am shooting for by summer time, very motivational!


Thanks heaps bro  :Smilie:  I'd be happy to help you reach your goals!

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## Khazima

Worked again today for another 5 hours, the chief gave me a fair bit more cashys then I was expecting so that's a bonus. Unfortunately he doesn't want me full time atm but might call me again soon for some more work. 

Working the last 2 days and half today completely ruined today's leg strength session, squats were supposed to be a lot cleaner, deadlifts felt like shit, front squats went absolutely terribly and the platform was taken so I just did some glute ham raises. I still hit the numbers for the squat and deadlift so I'll take it.

Went directly from working to coles to buy some clothes to workout in because I got dropped off near the gym lol. Took me 20 mins to get all the dirt off and luckily my knee sleeves and belt were still in my bag, forgot my shoes tho which didn't help. But I just loaded myself up with caffeine and hit it as hard as I could, rested as long as I needed and hit what needed to be hit. 

Woke up at 66.7 this morning, .2 lower than the lowest part of my cut. I fell asleep at about 6pm last night and woke back up at 6 and realised I'd missed about 1500 calories from the day before and that was the result lol. So I took every opportunity to fit in calories today. 

I'm going to go straight to 2750 calories for a hopeful 250 surplus and see how it goes, if I'm asked to work again I'll probably add 1000 to it the days that happens. 

Definitely cheerin to have extra cash and hoping my peptides come in on Monday, keen to see how they go with things like recovery, sleep and joints. 

Heavy push day tomorrow, excited as always to hit the bench!

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## Khazima

God it's good to be back on the gains train! ate so much yesterday to make up for the deficit from the day before and the work/leg session that day. Woke up feeling super energised, ready to go and i felt like i looked really full at the gym. My delts are already starting to pop alot more, i've always responded really well to lateral raises but my shoulder just doesn't allow it most of the time.

Killed it in the gym, muscular endurance is starting to come back. Hit the same bench numbers for an extra rep on each set and an extra set. Then on OHP i went down 5lb and hit an extra 3 sets and an extra rep on each set.

whole workout looked like;

Bench 5 sets of 4
Standing OHP 5x4
Incline bench 5x4
Close-grip bench 5x5

Still a lot more volume than i'm used to but its super fun. Tomorrow's the easiest of the strength days, then i'll probably continue straight into the hypertrophy workouts unless i can work in which case ill take the extra optional rest day.

Looking into some lifting shoes, i wanted adipowers but heard the romaleos are better, but they look like shit and are insanely expensive so i looked into the inov8 fastlift 335's and they look like the go, pretty cheap and the reviews are great so i'm going to give them a shot.

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## Khazima

Last strength session of the week today, pull strength. Went something like;

Bent over rows 5 sets of 4
Pull-ups 5x4 (had to switch to lat pulldown because the dip belt is broken)
Barbell curl 5x5
Barbell shrug 5x5

Pretty cruisy workout compared to the others, thankfully lol. Probably going to do legs hypertrophy tomorrow which will be killer.

Eating 2700-2800 calories now, might go a little over today depending on what's for dinner because i decided i wanted some lollies while i was at the shops today and didn't realize half the packet was 700 calories -.-

Weight's fluctuating atm woke up this morning at 67.7 yesterday was 68.3 day before was 66.7 so a lot of fluctuation because of the disruption working brought into the equation lol. 

I've decided on the inov8 335s, ordering them today or tomorrow and hopefully they'll be in by the end of the week. I'm a little worried about sizing as the reviews on that are mixed but i'm just going to order my normal size and hope for the best.

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## Khazima

Awsome leg session today, hit a volume PR on squats, last week my muscular endurance was so shot that i could only get 185lb for 4 sets of 10. This morning i woke up and decided i was doing today's 5 sets of 10 with 2 plates (100kg/220lb) if it killed me, and it nearly did. 

I went in and hit the warm-up sets and it felt great, bar was flying up, form was on point. Got to 2 plates and decided to rip into the 10 reps, basically finished the set and undid my belt while lying on the ground. Next set i stopped at 6, racked the weight and took a few breaths then got back under the bar and hit the last 4. I wasn't happy with that, took a 2 min rest and got straight back into it and hit this set for 10, then the next set stopped at 7 took a breath and finished the last 3. On the last set i decided i wasn't racking the bar until i got that 10 reps.. completely out of breath and grinding the 4th and 5th rep i dug deep and hit the next 5 with everything i had, then layed down on the ground.. There's the first exercise done. The whole workout looked something like;

Squats 5x10
Leg extension superset with leg curl 5x10/10/dropset last set
Hyperextension 5x10
Walking lunges superset with leg press 2x20/20
Seated calf raise superset with calf press 5x10/10/dropset last set

Completely killed me this workout and damn it was fun, glad to be back on 2 plates for my reps lol anything under 2 plates and i feel like i'm squatting baby weight. 

Push hypertrophy tomorrow, super keen to hit a bro workout. 2800 calories has maintained my weight the last 2 days, if i wake up the same tomorrow i'll probably go to 2900 and see where that takes me. 

Ordered those inov8 fastlift 335s, hoping they come in before squat strength day so i can break them in and introduce them to a world of hurt.

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## Khazima

Had a high volume push day today, muscular endurance is definitely on its way back. The workout was; 

Flat DB bench 5 sets of 10 
Incline BB bench 5x10
Seated DB shoulder press 5x10
Lateral raises 5x10 run the rack on the last set
Skullcrushers 5x10
Tricep pushdowns 5x10

Pumps i had going today were crazy especially after the main pressing then moving in to lateral raises i was feeling as wide as a doorway. Not really a fan of tricep isolation though especially skullcrushers since it hurts my elbows a fair bit, i can tweak the exercise slightly and make it easily bearable but if i do them regularly it aggravates my elbows to the point where i can't do any pressing for a few days/a week or so.

My knee started to feel a little sore after yesterdays leg session and i'm waiting for my order of TB-500 to arrive so it worried me a little, but i just wrapped it up with a support brace and it's fine now. No legs for 3 days so it'll be fine by the time i need to squat again. 

Woke up at 67.1 after waking at 67.7 yesterday, most likely from the intense leg workout burning a bucketload of glycogen but i refueled yesterday hitting 3k calories and still woke up roughly a pound lighter so i'm upping my calories to 3k to see where that takes me. 

It's blissful being able to eat as much food as i want now lol. A few days i've eaten however much i've wanted throughout the day and only had a few hundred calories left after dinner so i go to bed hungry but i think that'll stop once i'm used to having more calories to play with again and getting in the groove of things.

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## Khazima

Woke up still pretty fawkin lean at 67.2, put on about a pound this last week or so, a lot of fluctuation going on. Calories are at 3k which i'll be sitting at for a few days.


Starting to feel awsome in the gym, feel like i might be having a rebound of hormones since i'm breaking out with acne on my face/shoulders/back which hasn't happened for a while and i'm getting them alpha feels when i workout. 

Pull day today, feels good to be doing a bunch of hypertrophy volume for my back since i know this is what makes it respond the best. Workout looked like;

Pull-ups 5 sets of 10 reps (hit them all, volume PR for me) 
Cable row 5x10
Lat pulldown 5x10
Dumbbell row 5x10
Alternating dumbbell curl 5x10
Straight bar cable curl 5x10 

One thing i'm not a fan of is the pain i experience when doing straight bar curls of any kind. If i don't wear wrist wraps it's quite painful but even with wrist wraps i can feel the tension in my ulna, it may be due to tight forearm flexors but it's easily bearable with wrist wraps. 

Back on that chicken and rice which feels great lol i avoided it on my cut because it's fairly dense calorie wise and i preferred some type of meat and veggies but it was nice to have a break from it now i'm enjoying it again. 

Rest day tomorrow which as always i'm not keen on.. but it has to happen. Ended out doing 6 days in a row again because my mate decided to jump into the program with me but from now on i'll (we'll) be resting every 4th day (legs/push/pull/rest).

Knees and shoulders are feeling great, though i'm pretty sore and beat up in general after this last week of training so my body will be thanking me for the rest.

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## Khazima

Logging pretty late tonight, not much to report on today. Went way over on carbs today probably 200-300g total which is fine since i want to eat into the meet on Saturday and hopefully help my bench up a little. 

Was supposed to go skydiving again today which got cancelled once again do to weather but since we were already in the area we decided to go to some of the factory outlets local to the area we were in. 

We originally just wanted to go to a discount lolly store where they sell out of date/unsellable boxes of lollies extremely cheap (talking a box of lollies for the price of 1 in a store) but they've moved and only there factory was out the back. We still got some lollies but they weren't as cheap.. brand new though :P

Then we passed the rebel store and of course i had to see if there was any awsome deals.. and it just so happened that we came on the first day of their biggest sale this year where you could just pick up a card and get an extra 50% off of already discounted items. Ended out getting a pair of new balance vibrams for deadlifting, less than a third of the price, under armour shorts almost half price and some dope shirts for about 80% off. 

All of the stuff i bought just ended out being stuff to match with the deadlift shoes lol. They have a small amount of orange on them so now i can't wear basically any of my clothes cause everything matches my mostly blue or dark green shoes.. and it won't match my belt.. drives my OCD crazy.

Last heavy deadlift session tomorrow. I'll probably work up to a single at about 95% of my current 1rm then some doubles at 90%. The plan of attack for the week is;

Saturday - Deadlift
Sunday - Bench
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Squat
Wednesday - Back
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Meet

I'm really hoping the squat shoes i ordered are in in time for squats. Ideally i wouldn't change anything this close but if they arrive and feel better than chucks i'll go ahead and use them. 

Just about to go train my brother, time to put him through the work.

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## Khazima

Didn't end out logging yesterday since i was side-tracked all day and didn't remember until right before i went to bed  :Frown: 

*Saturday*
I did some deadlifts at the gym and worked up to about 95% of my 1rm. It didn't feel that great so i decided not to go any higher and just focus on maintaining the motor pattern at a moderately heavy weight in an attempt to acclimate myself to 1-2 reps at maximal loads. 

After that some benching occurred, worked up to 95% once again and my shoulder wasn't feeling 100% so i decided to do 2 singles and call it a day.

The new balance vibrams felt awsome, not a massive different from chucks but they feel better on my feet and grip into the ground noticeably better. All in all a good purchase. 

*Sunday*
Felt much better coming in today, shoes arrived and go to take them for a test run. They feel amazing except there's a little room in the toe box which is not ideal but they're miles ahead of chucks in how my squats felt, ill definitely be wearing them for the meet.

The plan was to work up to singles and see how it felt and even with some DOMS along my posterior chain it was feeling great so i worked up to my previous max at the end of the cut and smashed it easily. So i went for a PR and hit 135kg @ 68kg without too much struggle. 

After that i just did a few sets of pull-ups and some biceps and headed home to eat! 

I'm confident i'll hit 3 a 3 plate squat at the meet possibly 142.5. I'm not too confident in my bench and deadlift but i'll just have to get there on the day and see what happens. 

Time to mung out and relax, planning on benching tomorrow since my shoulder feels great. Hopefully my peptides arrive in the morning too.

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## Khazima

Heavy bench day today, woke up feeling like i have a bit of a head cold which is definitely not ideal. Hopefully it goes before saturday.

Worked up to a heavy single and matched my previous 1rm with a pause, so technically a pause bench PR. After that i just did some facepulls and called it a day, rest tomorrow then some back and technique work on Wednesday, then resting up to the meet!

My averaged weight is up to 68.7kg, about .7 up from the end out my cut and i feel like the extra weight is helping with strength since i set my squat PR at the end of the cut, which i smashed yesterday and i easily matched the bench.

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## Khazima

No gym today, complete rest today then some back/biceps tomorrow before 2 days rest prior to the meet. 

Woke up at 12pm which is always a bonus when i'm not lifting that day, the longer i sleep the sooner i lift lol. 

Peptides arrived this morning, reconstituted some TB-500, Mod GRF 1-29 and GHRP-2 and took 1mg TB, 100mcg Mod grf/GHRP-2 and within 10 mins started to get some strange side effects almost like a cold was starting to kick in and hunger increase, by the time i hit the 30 minute mark i was racing to the kitchen. It was also my first meal so that definitely contributed to the hunger as well. 

Pretty excited to start and see where it goes, if it ends out being a waste like a few members have said i won't be too worried since i get it fairly cheap as well, a one month supply for about as much as 5 days of food (on a budget).

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## Khazima

Did back and biceps today, was a pretty fun workout. Didn't go too hard the workout looked something like;

Bent-over rows 4x10 dropset last set
Pull-ups 3x8-10
Cable rows 2x10
Lat pulldown 3x12-15

Seated alternating dumbbell curl 3x10
Seated hammer curl 2x10
Machine preacher curl 3x12-15

Now that i put it on paper it looks like a lot of volume, but it really wasn't.. I was just working for the pump, super short rest breaks and low-moderate weight nothing really very taxing at all. Had a stupid pump going on after biceps though which is nice to feel every now and again. 

Pinned 100mcg of both Mod GRF and Ipamorelin before bed and got to sleep really easily but woke early because of some noise and couldn't get back to sleep which was super frustrating. I like to get atleast 8 hours preferably 9-10 if my body lets me but i got about 6.. still felt really fresh though which is good.

Got out of bed and pinned 100mcg both Mod GRF and GHRP-2, similar side effects to yesterday but slightly less pronounced. Got home after the workout and pinned another 100mcg of both and had a big meal of steak/potatoes. Weight is sitting at about 68.5 currently, definitely feeling a bit bigger and fuller already only about 3 weeks into this bulk.

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## Khazima

Rest today and rest tomorrow before the meet, just eating plenty of good foods and rehabbing any small injuries ie preparing my knees and resting up my shoulders. 

Woke up and pinned 100mcg of both Mod GRF 1-29 and GHRP-2, this time no sides happened although i felt slightly hungrier. I'm hoping that this is just how it's supposed to be and i may get more sides further into using these, like numbness and tingling of fingers/toes. No sides after my second dose either. 

I'm also hoping they're not degrading or damaged through handling, especially since i've got them reconstituted in BAC water in my cupboard, out of light, relatively cool (room temperature). 

Can't wait to get back into proper training and making proper gains. I'll be waiting a further 5-6 days after the meet to do so as well since i'm going camping for a few days with the family and we get back late on Christmas day.

The plan is just to kick back off where i stopped with the program, which will be a leg strength day. I've got a feel for the weights i want to use with it now so i can push myself properly rather than having to change the weights around between sets. 

Still eating 3k calories, woke up at 69kg this morning.

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## Khazima

Not much to report on today, decided to take down the cals by 200 since i'm waking up at 69kg pretty consistently which is over double the weight gain i'd planned. I'm a lot more comfortable like this though, little more chubby but feels super easy to maintain, still got abs in the morning and the rebound i got from dieting is over, had a few days where i just couldn't control my eating. 

Meets tomorrow, so keen to get back under the bar. I haven't taken 2 full days of rest in a super long time so i'm itching to lift. The day after i'm going camping for 5 days though lol so it's a bit of a forced rest week, post-meet. Which i suppose is a good thing, i'll absolutely kill it getting back into the program.

No sides post-injection of 100mcg GHRP-2/100mcg Mod GRF 1-29 besides slight appetite increase, been able to inject 4 doses for the last 3 days due to being home and my eating schedule works really well with needing to fast for minimum 2 hours then waiting another 20-30mins to eat. 

Started to get some random numbness that felt like it surged through my leg in a pulse down to my toes and a few times i've got pins and needles really briefly in my legs/feet. Hopefully these are good signs as i'm already considering switching sources due to there being no post-injection sides anymore. Which would be a real shame as the supplier i'm using now is a really good bloke, super easy to deal with and offers awsome discounts and deals for returning customers.

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## dreadnok89

This blog is invalid, your 19.  :Smilie:  jk. Thats when i went from 360 to 180. You picked a great time to get serious about your body

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## Khazima

> This blog is invalid, your 19.  jk. Thats when i went from 360 to 180. You picked a great time to get serious about your body


haha thank you my man!

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## Khazima

So the meet went super well, there was probably 15 people lifting and we only had 1 set up out the back of the commercial gym so warming up took an extremely long time, it was about 3-5min between warm-up lifts. I hit almost all of the numbers i planned and more except for bench.

Squat - 140kg (I did 120/130/140, felt like i should have done 120/135/142.5 or 145)
Bench 87.5kg (long pause, should have gone 80/87.5/90 but i went 80/87.5/92.5)
Deadlift - 155kg (Went 130/145/155 and it felt great, was definitely my true max and a 5kg PR)

Total - 382.5kg, a 2.5kg addition to all of my all time gym lifts on separate days. 

My total about 3 weeks ago at the end of the cut was 368kg all lifts on separate days and no pause on the bench so i'm stoked that i'm stronger than i was and about 3kg lighter.

I've had a long term goal to get to 70kg lean, and once i hit 75kg lean bulking i'll cut back down to 70kg and get to 10-12% BF really lean. This goal has shifted since if i was just happy with 70kg lean, i'd hit that in a month and i've reached it. Something tells me it'll be the same scenario when i hit 70kg shredded, i'll wanna be 80kg chubby and as strong as possible as quick as possible. 

Also in the short term i want a 100kg touch and go bench, 160kg deadlift and no current goals for the squat, but within 3-4 months after finishing my program then peaking i want a 100kg pause bench, 160kg squat and 180kg deadlift. 

Something i thought about before, is how cool it is that we can totally transform our bodies in a matter of weeks or months. The difference between chubby and lean like my most recent photos being the most intriguing.

We can go from looking super out of shape like we don't even lift to looking like an athlete with 6 pack abs and striated delts in 2-3 months. Then back to chubby within a matter of weeks just fluctuating body types suited towards different goals.

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## Khazima

Late log today, been in the car all day heading to a camping site about 6 hours away from home. Took us 7 before we couldn't figure out where to go and it was getting too dark with all the shops closed so we're in a cabin for the night lol. 

Had time for a quick workout this morning just did a hypertrophy focus push workout;

Flat dumbbell press 4x8-10 drop set both last sets
Military press 2x8 (shoulders feeling fatigued)
Incline dumbbell press 3x10-12
High to Low cable flyes 4x12-15
Superset with lateral raises 4x12-15
Single arm cable pushdowns 4x12-15
Superset with rope pushdowns 4x8-10

Something I might add into my routine regularly is the single arm cable pushdowns, the contraction was so strong in the lateral head it literally felt like it was going to cramp at the top of each rep. I'm not sure whether it was just due to the positioning but it felt great. 

Probably won't workout at all in the next 5 days because I'll be camping with no equipment, I could do some bodyweight stuff and improvise but I think it's perfect timing since it's suggested to take a week or so off after a meet. I'm a little beat up but really not to bad.

Funny thing I didn't mention, on my bench 2nd attempt everything went really smooth then right as I was pushing hard and squeezing my glutes/pushing with my legs to lock the rep out I felt an intense cramp/pull in my hamstring, I gutted through it for the rep but got straight up and walked straight to the foam roller to try and roll it out in time for deadlifts. It hardly felt better by the time deadlifts came and stretching it hurt but I still managed to hit an 11lb all time PR and a 15lb PR from my previous max attempts.

It still hurts today, just in time for holidays haha. I imagine some would be upset with getting injured right before going away but I'm super glad I'm forced to rest instead of having to take time off from the gym myself.

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## Venom

Subbed along, you're making great progress in here brother! Keep it up!

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## Khazima

> Subbed along, you're making great progress in here brother! Keep it up!


Thanks man  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Back from camping, it was a great break and perfect timing after the meet. Feel refreshed and ready to go. We were going to stay until Christmas day and arrive in the afternoon but the whether was terrible so we ended out coming home a day early. 

It's going to take me a day to catch up to all the threads in here!!

Got home and hit the gym basically straight away, heaviest leg session of the program so far and since i took about 2 weeks out to condition to 1 rep max's and today was 5 reps and a lot of volume, it near murdered me. On the menu was; 

Squats 4x5 
Deadlifts 4x5
Leg press 4x5
Romanian deadlifts 4x5 

The lower back pump i had after squats was absolutely insane, so much so that i couldn't go anywhere near a 5rm on deadlifts, i was using a weight i can usually do for 20 reps easily and it was hard and painful. Squats went great though, hit the numbers i expected to but didn't surprise myself like i was hoping.

With the last set of leg press i dropped a plate and did a 10 rep set because i had to get out, my back just couldn't take anymore so instead of RDL i did hamstring curls for a set to failure and called it there. I was ready to cry from the lower back pump lol.

Awsome having an empty gym because it's Christmas eve though  :Smilie: 

Diet was all over the place on the trip but hey atleast i can guarentee it was a surplus! haha. Probably expecting to wake up around 70kg, so 3kg gain in about a month-5 weeks which is alot more than i wanted but i'm still pretty lean so i don't mind. 

Unfortunately i lost my 135 day streak on myfitnesspal though  :Frown:  back to day 1. 

Heavy push day tomorrow, hopefully i can squeeze it in sometime since we're not doing much for Christmas this year. 

Peptides are going well, the main thing i've noticed is improved well-being, i feel better in general and happy-go-lucky if that makes any sense. Sleep has been on point also.

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## Khazima

Merry Christmas all, typing on my new laptop  :Smilie:  families over and the feast is soon to be upon us.

Went for a Christmas day workout just before, I was expecting the gym to be completely empty but to my surprise there were quite a few people in and out during the hour I was there. Today was;

Bench 4 sets of 5
Overhead press 4x5
Incline bench 4x5
Close grip bench 4x5

I've decided to pause all my reps on bench since off the chest is the weakest part of my lift, this has caused my numbers to go down slightly but it'll definitely be worth it when off the chest is a strong point. Working towards that 100kg paused bench.

Woke up at 70.4kg this morning, wayyyyy heavier than I had planned by now but i'm still happy with how lean I currently am. I'm definitely going to need to keep the diet under control before i'm back to fat khaz. Today I'll probably end out sticking pretty close to my caloric goals since we're not doing multiple family do's or anything. Then from tomorrow on i'll be keeping it to 2800-3000 calories consistently.

Did some searching before to look for a local powerlifting meet and the only one is in February which doesn't really give me much time to get stronger so i'm hoping some more pop up towards the mid year once I've reached some of my goals and fill in the 73 or 76kg weight class comfortably.

Been pinning Mod GRF 1-29, GHRP-2, Ipamorelin and TB-500 consistently, sleeping really well, well-being is on point and I've definitely made some gains since getting back into a surplus, last time I was 70kg I wasn't even close to this lean.

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## Khazima

Just been hanging out all day today, last max effort heavy pull session of this mesocycle. Getting this diet back on track, definitely put on more weight than i'm comfortable with over the last 2-3 weeks. I was pretty strict with my calories on my cut and only gave my self a designated amount of leeway on refeed days so i think i experienced some loss of control over my eating once i relaxed into this bulk.

Not to worry though, it's headed back in the right direction now and at least my lifts feel good. Pull session today was;

Bent over rows 4 sets of 5 (ended out doing 4x6-7)
Weighted pull-ups 4x5
Barbell curl 4x5
Shrugs 4x5 (ended out doing 4x6-8) 

Pretty good session, i can really feel the extra weight on me, i get tired and lethargic a lot easier, i'm sweating a lot more and out of breath quicker.

It's funny how when you start lifting to get big the way you perceive it is a healthy lifestyle when in facts health takes quite the backseat to strength and size goals. 

Legs hypertrophy tomorrow. Starts with a superset of leg extensions and curls then squats which i haven't done anything of the sort... ever. Should be interesting and i always love to try new things. This whole program is fairly unorthodox to me but not completely new, as with most people i started off doing way too many exercises and sets with supersets and dropsets etc so incorporating that in a leg workout like i haven't done in so long should be interesting (and hard). 

On a pretty good ramble here so i might just keep going, i wonder if i'm ever going to end out reading through this entire log. I'd imagine it'd be quite interesting to see what state of mind and thoughts i had years past if i read it in the future or even months past if i decide to read it now. 

Ordered some bands online yesterday, found them quite cheap and i'm really looking forward to incorporating them into my programming, mostly for my bench and squats. Not sure if my gym has anywhere to put bands for deadlifts especially now they've screwed the safety bars on the squat rack into place. 

Just had 450g roasted potatoes, got 500 cals left for the day and need to eat them within the next half an hour so i can pin my last dose around 1130 before bed. Fit in 3 pins so far today easily. I was worried about the pinning schedule but so far it's been easy enough to get 4 or even 5 pins in per day giving myself close to 3 hours between pins and waiting 20-30 mins after. It fits quite well with how i like to eat actually. 

Alright, rambling done. If anyone reads this.. why?

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## Khazima

Well legs went unexpectedly well today, my knees were feeling a little off so i decided to do some technique work on sumo deadlifts since i'm switching back. Once i got to 120kg i decided to go for 3 plates and just do 1 or 2 singles and ended out hitting it easily for 5, which i certainly can't do with conventional deads. I was feeling great and still fresh from taking a few days off after the meet so i decided to PR and hit my 155kg max from the meet easily. I ended out doing 160kg, an all time PR quite easily, my first day switching back to sumo. I could've kept going but i decided to save it for my 180kg goal in the near future. whole workout looking something like;

Leg extensions superset with leg curls 4x30/15/15/15
Squats 4x12
Sumo deadlifts 120kg x 3/140kg x 5/ 150kg x 1/155kg x 1/160kg x 1
Front squats 4x3

Seated calf raise superset with calf raise on leg press 4x15-20

It was a completely unexpected PR and i'm really happy with it, straight after a massive dude came up to me and my mate and asked us about the sumo deadlift, why to do it etc and i just told him it basically shortens the range of motion allowing you to lift more weight and that conventional deadlift is better for overall development (imo). 

Looks like my 4 plate goal is a lot closer than expected, as well as my goal to get into the 1000lb club.

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## Khazima

Push hypertrophy today, session went well (as expected really) nothing spectacular. 

Dumbbell bench 4 sets of 12 reps
Incline BB bench 4x12
Flat bench 4x12 (was supposed to be with a swiss bar but my gym doesn't have one)
Cable lateral raises 4x12 dropset last set
DB skullkrushers superset with single-arm overhead extensions 4x12

I've gotten to a point in the routine where i sort of want to go back to my own programming and focus more on strength and power but at the same time i want to stick this out and just keep getting bigger using high volume. 

More than likely i'll stick it out for the next mesocycle and see how i like it then either continue or go back to my own programming.

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## Khazima

As of today decided to switch routines and try to get as big and as strong as possible with sport specific goals (powerlifting). I'm basically going to squat and bench 3x a week, deadlift twice and have accessories around those. It's essentially an 8 day split that looks like; 

Bench/overhead press - Max effort (strength)

Squat focus then deadlift - Max effort (strength) alternating between squat and deadlift focus

Rest

Bench - Hypertrophy (whole upper body)

Squat - strength/hypertrophy on deadlift focus weeks and hypertrophy focus on squat focus weeks

Rest 

Bench - Dynamic effort (power)
Squat/deadlift - Dynamic effort (power)

It's sort of a trial because i mainly want to get as big as possible right now with a goal of being 175-180 (at around 17-18% bf) from 152 (currently, at approx 14-15%) by the end of 2015. 

Got my diet back under control, finally. Been steady at 69.3kg for the last 3 days and if the moons are in line i should be 69.4kg tomorrow. 

So as i think i mentioned today was a max effort squat day (when the origional plan was to do back and biceps lol) and we worked up to some heavy doubles and triples near 90% of my 1 rep max. Then when i tried to move onto deadlifts my hips were still tight and a bit sore from maxing on sumos the other day. Did a few doubles of those and a few with conventional then decided to do some box squats. 

Funnily enough my pants ripped on one of my first sets of squats so i had to put a shirt over the back of my shorts and look like a doofus for the rest of the session. Nevertheless the box squats went really well and worked up to some doubles at near 92-93% 1rm. 

Probably going to go hit back tomorrow since i haven't done it yet then rest the next day, then back to the bench/squat/rest routine.

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## Khazima

Decided to bench today and get the heavy session done instead of resting since the first squat session was out of impulse (and a bit of peer pressure). So that's the first max effort microcycle done, rest tomorrow then leg/lower body hypertrophy session. 

Did a bunch of stuff today and the whole workout looked a little like; 

Paused bench - worked up to 5-6 sets of doubles at about 90% 1rm then did an AMRAP set (got 3) with the same weight.
Weighted (wide-grip) pull-ups - 3-4 sets of 5-7 reps.
Standing military press - few sets of doubles, a heavy single then a back off triple. 
Bent-over rows and cable rows - 5-6 total sets of 6-10 reps. 
Floor press - Worked up to 2 max effort doubles and did a few slightly lighter doubles. 

The owner was at the gym today, who is also the person who organised the backyard meet and is a powerlifter himself. He and myself didn't get off to a great start at the gym as my spending was out of control and i never even left money in the bank for the direct debit at the gym but now we're on pretty good terms and have some good conversation.

I asked if i could buy chains and leave them here and he said there's already chains there and boy did i get excited lol i had to try them immediately. Unfortunately there's not enough and they're not long enough yet so they need to be tweaked and added to before they're of any real use but even fiddling around with them was fun and i can definitely see the power benefit. 

Super keen for the bands to arrive and i can really mix my training up regularly with bands and chains.

So far i'm really enjoying this new style of training, for the strength days anyway because i can gear it towards what i want and do the amount of volume i feel is adequate. Since there's no real structure to the individual workouts it's a bit of an experiment to see what my capabilities with programming and discipline are. I guess i'll see in a month or twos time when i max again.

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## RaginCajun

experimenting is fun! the human body is a wonder!

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## Khazima

> experimenting is fun! the human body is a wonder!


It really is man. Amazing to see what we can do with it and the way we can transform it.

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## Khazima

Rest day today, about time i took one i've been in the gym for about a week straight. I feel fine but in the back of my head all i can hear is 'you grow outside the gym'. Just been thrown around by switching programs a bit and lacking the discipline to stay home and rest. A job would help lol. 

I thought of another new split but i think i'll stick with this one for 1.5-2 months then retest my max's and get a gauge for progression. Currently the plan is just Squat/bench/rest with alternating deadlift focus on squat strength days but to make things easier and more structured i was thinking of doing;

Monday - Bench (Strength)
Tuesday - Squat (Strength)
Wednesday - Bench (Power)
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Bench (Hypertrophy)
Saturday - Squat (Hypertrophy/power)
Sunday - Rest

Since my main goal is to get that 100kg bench, i just also want to squat 3x a week as well lol guess i can't have my cake and eat it too so the next best thing i've got is what i'm doing now. Just going to have to wait and see how it goes.

Weight is still steady at 69.6kg, didn't go up so i'll be upping the calories tomorrow if it's the same once again.

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## Khazima

Legs went pretty well today, caught the train out the better of the two close gyms near me for their platform and ab/adductor machine (need to strengthen my hips).

Decided to do the heavy deadlifts i missed on heavy squat day because my hip was feeling alright but by the time i got up to 3 plates i realized it wasn't really going to happen, i hit 3 plates for 5 easily the other day then today i struggled for 2 because of the hip pain. Did 2 doubles and 3-4 singles with 3 plates and chains on the bar then moved on to squats. Whole workout looked like; 

Deadlifts - worked up to 2 heavy 2 doubles with chains then some singles
Squats - 4 sets 8-10
Deficit romanian deadlifts with chains - 4 sets of 6-8 
Leg extensions super-set with leg curls 2 x 30
Abduction superset with adduction 3 x 15-20

I went super high reps on the leg extensions because on the last set of squats my left knee flared up pretty significantly, i stopped immediately and when i went for the next set as i unracked i felt some pain so i stopped and moved on. 

Hopefully because i stopped so soon i should be fine for lower body/power in 3 days. I've got 50mg of TB-500 on its way so i'll probably do 4 weeks of 5mg and try to get this cleared up. 

Upper hypertrophy tomorrow, time to get the delts poppin and the back swelled. 

Happy new years everyone  :Smilie:  

PS. Cheerin about being a productive member  :Big Grin:

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## Khazima

Upper body hypertrophy went really well today, i was sweating so profusely though, it was disgusting. It's probably just due to the heat (even though the gym has air con) and having some excess BF now, as well as much shorter rest times. 

The whole workout looked like;

Flat bench 5 x 6-8
Incline DB bench 4 x 8-10
Pull-ups 3 x 10
Bent-over rows 4 x 10-12
Cable fly super-set with lat pulldown 3 x 12-15
Cable lateral raises super-set with seated rear delt fly 4 x 12-15 dropset last set
Giant set: 4 x rope pushdowns 12-20, Rope hammer curl 12-20, facepulls 10-12
Machine preacher curl 3 x 12-15
Overhead DB tricep extension 3 x 12-15

33 total sets is a shitload of volume (for me) but it was feeling really good and it's not super taxing work (CNS-wise) so i just smashed it out and felt like i hit everything nicely. Could've used a little more volume on the back but i hit that again in 3 days on upper body power day as well as heavy on bench max effort day. 

So far i'm absolutely loving this split i just pray that my joints can keep up with the frequency. The hypertrophy and power days aren't too demanding so it should be okay and i have plenty of time to recover for the next max effort days. 

Hoping my TB-500 arrives on Monday so i can keep this knee in line. Shoulders are feeling okay but my left knee worries me. Hopefully the bands arrive then as well so i can get to work with those  :Big Grin:

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## Khazima

Ended out going to the gym today for lower body power since my gym partner got back from a NYE trip he did and wanted to go. So just cut the rest day out between hypertrophy/power days, which is fine since they're both relatively non taxing. Whole workout was;

Box squats probably about 8 sets of 2-4 reps with about 75% 1rm focusing on keeping tight and exploding off the box (bench in this case).
Conventional deadlifts for speed 4-5 sets with about 65% 1rm for 2-4 reps focusing on getting my hips through, form and getting the bar off the ground as quickly as possible. 
Pause squats about 5 sets of 3 with about 60% 1rm pausing for about 3 seconds and exploding out of the hole as quickly as possible. 

My hips felt terrible so there was no way i could do sumo, which was disappointing but i feel i can gain more out of doing my dynamic effort deadlifts conventional anyway. I'm hoping i can do sumo at least once a week on max effort days then do conventional on dynamic effort days at least until my hips can handle twice a week. 

Ended out going to the shops after and noticed there were some relatively cheap, good bands at rebel sport so i convinced my mate to go halves with me, i think they have more tension than the ones i ordered so it'll be fun to implement them into tomorrows dynamic effort bench workout. 

Woke up at 71.1kg this morning which i though strange since i didn't eat any more than usual yesterday and drank more water than usual.

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## Khazima

Finally got to go skydiving today and it was f*cking intense, so much fun. 

Got home and went to the gym to do some upper body power work and play around with the bands. Set up the bench with the bands, some light weight and chains and did about 10 sets of 3-5 focusing on form and exploding out of the hole. Going back to normal weight felt so strange but i did that for 2 sets and it felt like someone was lifting the bar off once i got past my sticking point lol. 

After that we played around with setting up the bands for deadlifts but we have to take 4-6 dumbbells and a few plates because the platform doesn't have hooks or anything for the bands. Ended out able to get a serious amount of tension at the lockout which is perfect for my gym partner and still beneficial to me somewhat. 

We also set up the squat to see how much weight it'll take out the hole and it was about 20-25kg (about 50lb) deep in the hole. 

After that i just did 4-5 sets of pendlay rows, some lat pulldowns and a couple sets of laterals. 

Rest tomorrow then max effort deadlift focus, hoping my hip is fresh for the day cause i'm really looking forward to it.

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## Khazima

Almost forgot to log for the day, probably because it's a rest day today and i'm used to get my workout in then logging soon after while how i felt and any thoughts i had are still fresh in my mind. 

Almost all of the orders i made around Christmas arrived today, I was especially excited to see a cheap pair of knee sleeves i ordered and they actually seem really good quality for $17 (for the pair) but unfortunately i compared both the mcdavids i have now and these no brand ones and i think i'll be sticking with the mcdavids until i order some slingshot knee sleeves, rehbands or SBD's.

All of my peptides also arrived, 10 vials of 5mg TB-500, 10 vials of 2mg cjc no dac (mod grf 1-29), 5 vials of 2mg Ipamorelin and 4, 5mg vials of GHRP-2. Got it all with a buy 1 get 1 free opportunity the day before Christmas day. 

A shitload of clothes arrived as well, a few compression shirts, about 5 singlets, a few pair of shorts and some other bits and pieces. It was practically like Christmas all over again when i walked downstairs lol.

I put all my peptides in the freezer this time while they wait to be reconstituted because i think they lost potency over time using them previously. 

Max effort deadlifts tomorrow, hoping my hip holds out since i've given it plenty of rest and it's feeling really good, should be able to hit them regularly within a few weeks due to loading up on TB-500 again.

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## Khazima

Max effort deadlifts went really well today, sumo wasn't really on the cards.. i got to about 90% 1rm and my hip just couldn't take it, just got 1 slow rep and switched back to conventional. I might try doing sumo every other week and see if that's manageable. 

Worked up to some heavy triples focusing on getting my hips a bit lower to get more out of my quads. 

Then moved on to some max effort front squats where i hit a 10kg PR which i was moderately happy with since i hit the previous PR quite a while ago but a PR's a PR so i'll take it.

After that did some deficit stiff leg deadlifts and ended out hitting a 20kg PR on standard deficit deadlift, which i was pretty happy with since it wasn't that long ago i stuggled with the previous weight. After that just kept pumping out some stiff legs and called it a day, heavy bench tomorrow, super keen.

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## Khazima

Heavy bench went tremendously today, hit the same weight i hit for about 8x2 for something like 6x3 this week and a single 2.5kg heavier than my meet max with a competition pause.

Then straight after did some heavy singles with OHP and smashed my previous PR by 5kg even though i have't been doing it very much. 

So all went really well, after that just did some pull-ups, rows, a little bit of close-grip and finished with some biceps. 

This new split is looking perfect so far. Rest tomorrow then squat/hypertrophy.

On deadlift focus weeks i'm planning on doing a 5x5 for squats and progressing the weight every other week, then on the squat focus weeks i'll just stick with something like 4x8-10 or just front squatting.

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## Khazima

Today was a rest day, i went to bed late and was hoping to wake up late but i ended up having really shitty broken up sleep, felt a little groggy for a while after until i'd eaten and woken up properly. Hopefully i sleep better tonight. 

Keen as fek for some lower body hypertrophy tomorrow, probably going to go through with the 5x5 then hit the ad/abductor machine followed by some supersets. 

Did my measurements today and i've put .5 of an inch to an inch on most of my measurements over the last month, quads have gone up by .5, chest gone up by 1, arms gone up by .3-.4 and even my calves have gone up by half an inch lol i think a fair bit is due to gaining a lot of weight in general but nevertheless i'm making great progress, getting stronger in all my lifts etc and as motivated as always.

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## fitnesstrainer

You like 5x5 for hypertrophy? It's always just made me stronger. Works really well. I'll end up doing it like twice a year usually.

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## Khazima

> You like 5x5 for hypertrophy? It's always just made me stronger. Works really well. I'll end up doing it like twice a year usually.


My primary goal is to get stronger so i'm going to do it on the weeks where my lower body max effort day is focused on deadlifts. I'll be doing higher rep ranges with all the accessories too.

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## Khazima

Well the 5x5 went well today started with 110kg to build up the work capacity, hoping to be doing it with 3 plates within 3-4 months. Followed that by some deficit SLDL, some leg curls and extensions then finish on the abductor machine and some calves. 

Was feeling pretty burnt out straight after the 5x5, guess i forgot that 5 sets of 5 with relatively heavy weight is quite taxing LOL but i should've known.. nothing is ever easy when it comes to legs. 

Upper body hypertrophy tomorrow, going to focus a lot on the pushing muscles then save a decent amount of back work for the dynamic upper body session. 

Hopefully my second set of resistance bands are here in time for dynamic upper, they were supposed to be here on Monday so i contacted the seller and they're in limbo in the post atm so hopefully they appear on Monday, just in time.

I've also ordered a pair of barefoot vibrams which i'm excited for, i'm fine with my current new balance vibrams but i wanted some 5 finger ones plus mine are a little small. I bought them knowing they were small and wanted a tight fit but there's a band that runs across them over the knuckles on my toes that's too tight and causes discomfort especially wearing them for a while.

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## Khazima

So i had a really down night last night, just generally feeling down then i decided to take some progress pics with no lighting, no pump etc and i compared them to good pics and it made me feel like shit, plus a few other things and i was in the dumps lol so i decided to go to the gym and get the same pics i did 6 months ago today and was really pleased with the results.



First thing i notice is i could use more chest, which has been stubborn for me lately, and that my delts have exploded. Arms have always been really hard for me too. Got really pumped for this LOL like i was doing at the time i took the pics, i also set a rep PR for bench which puts my projected max 3kg above my current max. Workout looked like;

Flat bench 1 x AMRAP then 3 x 8-12
Lat pulldown 2 x 15
Incline DB bench 4 x 10-12
Pull-ups 4 x 8-10
Cable flyes 4 x 12-15
Superset with cable lateral raises 4 x 10-12
Bent-over rows 3 x 10
DB lateral raise 4 x 15-20 (burnouts)
In between Rear delt flyes 4 x 12-15

Seated DB curl 2 x 10-12
Superset with tricep pushdown 2 x 12-15 (warm-up more or less)
Tricep pushdown (working sets) 4 x 10-12
Superset with machine preacher curl 4 x 10-12
Cable hammer curl 2 x 12-15 

Around 45-50 sets total lol which is crazy to look back on but it's a day i do once every 9 days to stimulate the entire upper body with a slight neglect on back, which i do again a little more intense in 3 days for the upper body dynamic session. 

Overall happy with the day and the workout, went to the beach beforehand which was nice and left me itching to get to the gym lol.

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## Khazima

Lower body power today, went really well. Most of it was technique work playing around with sumo some more and feet placement on squats. 

I've found a happy medium with my sumo stance (finally) where it doesn't hurt my hip to much but it's not too close, and still feels significantly better than my conventional. Conventional i'm having a really hard time finding the right technique especially with starting hip position and engaging my quads and hips properly. Nevertheless super happy to be able to continue with sumo without pain. 

Then with squats i found that widening my stance a decent amount eliminated most of the minor buttwink i have going on as well as allowed my to sit into the squat at depth whereas i usually have to go ATG to sit right into my squat, so i'll definitely be sticking with that as well. 

The workout was really straight forward, the foundation of it was just accommodating resistance, technique/speed work;

Deadlifts with about 60kg band tension - About 10 sets of 2-4
Box squats with about 40kg band tension - 5-6 sets of 2-3
Wide(r) stance pause squats with 40kg band tension - 3-4 sets of 2-4

Overall happy with the workout and really enjoying using these power days to work on primarily technique, then explosiveness. 

I noticed something that i might have to attribute to the peptides today, my skin almost looks like it did before i ever had acne, now my acne is quite mild and never been a massive issue but right now my skin looks incredibly smooth and refreshed as well as very little acne, it's only really occurred since switching sources about 2 weeks ago, but may just be the result of using them for 2ish months.

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## energizer bunny

Looking good Khazima!!......great log and great progress mate!.......

Congrats on turning light blue!

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## Khazima

> Looking good Khazima!!......great log and great progress mate!.......
> 
> Congrats on turning light blue!


Thanks man i appreciate it  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

> Looking good Khazima!!......great log and great progress mate!.......
> 
> Congrats on turning light blue!


Thanks man i appreciate it  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Today's workout felt really really good, not for any specific reason since there was no PR's or anything special so to speak and this morning i even woke up feeling quite beat up, but once i got to the gym and got warm i felt great. 

It was dynamic effort bench day, ended out only doing dynamic bench with bands and no pendlay rows because the gym was packed and the spot to do the rows was taken, then did some back hypertrophy and called it a day. The whole workout looked like;

Speed bench with bands - 8 sets of 4
Pull-ups - 4 x 8-10
Cable rows - 3 x 12-15
Dumbbell rows - 3 x 8-10
Lat pulldown 3 x 10-12

I don't know why but it just felt like a really good workout, could be because there was great vibes going on and just feeling alpha lol or because the benching felt really clean and i worked by back properly. 

I'm tweaking my programming as i go and really liking it, two training blocks looks sort of like;

*Block 1*
Day 1 - Heavy Squat, heavy deadlift/variation, squat accessory
Day 2 - Heavy bench, Heavy OHP, Heavy back exercise
Day 3 - Rest
Day 4 - Squat hypertrophy
Day 5 - Upper body hypertrophy, focus on push muscles
Day 6 - Rest 
Day 7 - Speed deadlifts, box squats and maybe pause squatrs (all with bands)
Day 8 - Speed bench with bands, extra back work
Day 9 - Rest

*Block 2*
Day 1 - Heavy deadlifts, heavy squat variation, deadlift accessory
Day 2 - Heavy bench, OHP, rows
Day 3 - Rest
Day 4 - Squat 5x5, lower hypertrophy
Day 5 - Upper body hypertrophy, focus on pushing muscles
Day 6 - Rest
Day 7 - Lower power
Day 8 - Bench power, extra back work
Day 9 - Rest 

It's been really fun so far since i'm going into the gym and doing what i enjoy and what i know works for me, with no set amount of reps or sets for the day just a general goal for each session. I'll probably stick with this sort of layout for a while and see how i progress, testing my maxes in another 4-5 weeks doing a mock meet to see where i'm at then go from there.

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## Khazima

Rest all day today before some heavy squats tomorrow, going to go for a rep PR and set my projected PR a bit higher than my current PR then just do a few back off sets and some heavy blocks pulls.

The bands i'd ordered ages ago finally arrived which i'm cheering about, can't wait to use them on the next speed days. They're a little weaker than the other ones i have which is perfect since those have A LOT of tension at the top of lifts, especially on the deadlift. 

Also ordered some rehband knee sleeves, prices over here are insane, $50 for one knee sleeve but hopefully they'll arrive in the morning since i got express shipping. Should be refreshing to use new sleeves since the pair i have at the moment aren't 'equal', i ordered one thinking i was ordering a pair, then when one arrived i used it for the worse leg anyway while waiting for the next one to come. Took about a week for the next one to come and by then the other one was broken in a bit so now one is a little looser than the other, so the tight one i use on the knee that gives me the most trouble. 

Regardless they both stink and suck.. I'm over them and ready to upgrade lol.

Also waiting for a reply from a guy on ebay about a 4" 13mm Harris lever belt and Harris 2.5m knee wraps that are really cheap compared to their RRP and i txted him and arranged to buy them even cheaper. So that should be cool to play around with a lever belt and proper knee wraps. Chances are i'll stick with the belt i have now (13mm 4" double prong) but we'll see.

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## Khazima

Heavy skwats today and it went super well, hit 93% of my current 1rm for 5 reps which puts my projected max 6kg (13lb) over my current max. Pretty excited about that, especially since it was quite easy and i only stopped since my knee flared up. The first rep felt great then on the way down of the second rep i felt the pain that straight away signaled i'll need to take a break from squats so i pushed through it because i had a goal today and i was about to reach it. 

I literally thought before the third rep 'F**k it i'll up my TB-500 and give it some rest, i'm getting these reps'. So that's what i did.

And ironically enough, my rehbands were waiting for me when i got home from the gym, i tried them on and they feel 10x better than my current sleeves. I can't say if it would have made a difference in my knee flaring up but i can bodyweight squat pain free with the new sleeves which is out of the question without them. 

After that i planned on working up to a max effort block pull, but got to my conventional 1rm and just didn't have it in me to go higher. Sumo was out of the question for any more than 75-80% as well because my hips were too tight. After a heavy block pull i backed off and did some paused deadlifts and finished with some light sumos. 

Keen as to squat again tbh, hopefully my knee will be ready for another (less damaging) round of squats in a couple days. 

Max effort bench tomorrow, probably just going to up the weight slightly on the bench and go for some doubles, then work up to a heavy floor press or close grip press + some pull-ups/rows and a bit of OHP.

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## Khazima

Bench went well today, added 2.5kg to my bench and did doubles instead of triples, did about 6 sets and all went pretty easily. My shoulders were playing up a little today so just finished off with some OHP, a couple bench drills and some weighted pull-ups/bent over rows. I'm really liking how my bench is progressing so far as well as my squat, getting a little beat up though.

The plan is to do the next block of training then deload, so it'll be deadlift focus week and i'll go for an AMRAP then the same with bench, take a deload week and just do some pump/bodybuilding style workouts with a couple extra days rest then into the next block, depending on progress from this block i'll either continue or change something, but so far it looks like i'll be continuing as i'm progressing really fast, getting bigger relatively fast and just generally getting a lot stronger pretty quick.

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## Khazima

The plan was to squat today but as i sort of expected my knee hasn't done healing and i only got half way through my warm up sets before i felt it flare up so i stopped and just did what i was supposed to do tomorrow which is upper hypertrophy. It's unfortunate but it's to be expected with high frequency squatting and when i choose to ignore my body this is what i get. It's not too big of a deal and should be better with some rest and the aid of TB-500. So today's workout looked like;

Flat DB bench 4-5 x 8-12
Incline bench 3 x 8-10
Pull-ups 4 x 10
Cable flyes 4 x 12-15, 3 x dropset last set
+ Superset with cable lateral raises 4 x 10-12
Wide grip cable row 3 x 10-12
Alternating DB curl 2 ramp up sets then 1 to failure

Tri-set; 3 x 
Tricep pushdown 10-12
Rope cable curl 10-12
Facepull 12-15

Then just finished with a few sets of calves and called it a day, was stupid pumped in the delt and chest region, really wanted to hit my chest hard today and took most of the sets for it to failure.

Will probably end out just doing some deadlifts tomorrow and some straight legs maybe some glutes. Planning to take a week off of squatting and let my knee heal as much as possible before hopefully starting a meet prep.

I want to hit a 180 deadlift (relatively-realistic) 150 squat (realistic) and a 100 bench (realistic) i think it's achievable if i peak well and am as rested as possible in time. 

Some back pics i also posted in my thread in members pictures, really happy with how much wider i've gotten over the past few months.

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## Khazima

Almost forgot to post for the day, woke up really late and went to the gym later than usual. Ended out doing some deadlifts because my hips felt great so i worked up to a few heavy triples before doing some backoff sets to work on my technique. After that just did some back hypertrophy since it wasn't focused enough yesterday, whole workout was;

Deadlifts 5 x 3
Bent-over row 5 x 8-10
Wide grip pull-ups 4 x 10
Cable row 2 x 10-12 

About half way through the deadlifts one of my calluses ripped right off which is annoying especially since i want to deload then have an intense training block with regular deadlifts up to this meet. As long as it doesn't get worse it shouldn't get a problem though so i'm not really worried, the main thing i'm worried about is my knee not getting better in time. I'm going to give this week off squatting and deadlifting + probably switch sources for my TB-500 because i'm not confident in my current sources which is unfortunate since i bought 50mg lol.

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## GirlyGymRat

I saw your beginning photos in other forum. You have made steady progress! Keep up the hard work!

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## Khazima

> I saw your beginning photos in other forum. You have made steady progress! Keep up the hard work!


Thanks GGR  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Woke up so late today, didn't go to bed until about 4am then woke up around 5pm, such a waste of a day but luckily it was a rest day. 

Going to hit some bench and push hypertrophy tomorrow to kick off the deload before an 8 week training block leading into the meet.

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## Khazima

Did some push hypertrophy and some power work with bands today, hit the flat bench for a few sets mainly working on my technique and some rep/speed work. Really happy with how my bench is coming along technique and efficiency wise, strength also feels great but the progression in that department will be truly tested soon enough. Whole workout was;

Flat bench 3x10-12 then 6 sets of 2-3 with bands (speed work)
Overhead press 3x8-10
Flat DB press 4 x 8-12
Low to high cable flyes 4x12-15
Superset with cable lateral raises 4x10-12

Didn't want to go too hard since i plan on hitting a similar workout in 3 or so days, pull hypertrophy tomorrow then a rest day/repeat. That'll be the story of the deload + plenty of technique work then hopefully my knees ready to get destroyed for another 8 weeks.

Probably going to cut one of the leg days out and stick with benching 3x a week max effort/rep/power then for legs it'll alternate between max effort/rep and max effort/power with deadlift focus on rep weeks. 

Hopefully this will save my knees a little longer and allow me to squat pain free for the rest of the prep. 

Sitting around 72kg atm (about 158lb) A LOT leaner than i was last time i was at this BW. I'm still able to flex and see abs just with an extra layer of fat lol, last time there were no abs in sight for a few weeks into the cut. I'll be competing at 74kg so i've got 2kg leeway until then, which i'll have to keep an eye on since i've been gaining weight quite quickly.

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## Khazima

Hit a high volume back workout today, really been enjoying these high volume workouts focusing on more specific muscle groups. Today's workout was;

Chin-ups 3 x 10-12
Bent-over row 5 x 10-12
Lat pulldown 3 x 10-12 (dropset last set)
Dumbbell row 4 x 8-10 (dropset last set)
Pull-ups 2 x 8

Seated DB curl 2 x 10-12
Rope cable curl 4 x 12-15 (dropset last 2)
Machine preacher curl 3 x 12-15 (dropset last set) 

Was a great workout, feelings strong. Went for a swim straight after which was nice, changed my deload plan to help me groove into the working phase a bit easier. Going to hit some legs tomorrow then rest, hit some upperbody then rest again, then start the first microcycle. I'm really hoping my knee holds up but i don't have much faith in it, going to lower the frequency of squats and hope that helps. Might squat once a week, deadlift once with assistance work on both days. Going to continue benching 3 times since that's been working really well.

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## bigrich4

Hey khaz, your stuff looks good. Also looks like your gains are getting good. Where i could see so ething being awesome for your back though is getting those pullups in first with a higher number of those rather than the chins. Im no smal, guy, im 210-215 depending on the time of day. 
I like to hit in the total reps of 50 pullups, some of the first reps/sets being weighted, then later when you are doing those chins, do them with your curling session, and they are so much easier. 
Ive felt so good ever sense ive upped my pullups, and you being your size im sure you can just bang them out like nothing. Give it a try and see how your back feels and i bet anything you will feel like a beast. Ive been checking out your log and it looks good... i just love pullups so maybe im just weird lol. Youre doing great bro, and like i sad before . At your age you will grow up and be a monster if you want it

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## Khazima

> Hey khaz, your stuff looks good. Also looks like your gains are getting good. Where i could see so ething being awesome for your back though is getting those pullups in first with a higher number of those rather than the chins. Im no smal, guy, im 210-215 depending on the time of day. 
> I like to hit in the total reps of 50 pullups, some of the first reps/sets being weighted, then later when you are doing those chins, do them with your curling session, and they are so much easier. 
> Ive felt so good ever sense ive upped my pullups, and you being your size im sure you can just bang them out like nothing. Give it a try and see how your back feels and i bet anything you will feel like a beast. Ive been checking out your log and it looks good... i just love pullups so maybe im just weird lol. Youre doing great bro, and like i sad before . At your age you will grow up and be a monster if you want it


Thanks for the tips and the kind words man  :Smilie:  Will definitely try it next back workout.

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## Khazima

So something happened at the gym today.. a guy i know from the year below me at primary and high school came in to workout today, at the same time as this pretty big guy who always does chest/biceps, never anything else as well as a few other people from his year. My gym partner and myself had just finished deadlifting and when my mate went to go clean up the chalk, he noticed the guy had dropped a syringe on the ground, asked him if it was his he said yeah and quickly picked it up, i can only imagine how awkward that would have been lol.

I sort of guessed most of these guys were on gear because they blew up since the last time i'd seen them, but so had i so i just thought maybe they learnt how to eat/train but i suppose that confirms my suspicions. It's a bit ridiculous IMO because none of them really have a respectable base even though they've probably been on it for a while/done a few cycles + they're 18-19. 

Anyway, did some legs today and it felt great, hit about 6 sets of triples on squats then a few easy deadlifts and some deficit SLDL, so happy to be able to squat again. Got some work tomorrow so i guess i'll be resting for the next 3 days since i'm going away for the weekend as well, perfect timing with the end of the deload and the beginning of the meet prep.

I've had to take my calories down a bit because i'm only able to put on about another 4lb in the next 8 weeks or i'll have to cut water for the meet which i'd rather not do. Which sort of times really well since the rebound period from the cut is over and i'm really happy with the gains i've made, now it's time to tone the calories down a bit and make them 'lean gainz'.

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## bigrich4

How far out is the meet? I'd like to do one too but my bench sucks so bad. Let us know what's up and I will keep visiting your log.. Check mine out too.. Just one day on it and I felt crappy too.. There's always tomorrow. Get video or pictures of the meet too.. Kill it man.. Keep killing it I should say

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## Khazima

> How far out is the meet? I'd like to do one too but my bench sucks so bad. Let us know what's up and I will keep visiting your log.. Check mine out too.. Just one day on it and I felt crappy too.. There's always tomorrow. Get video or pictures of the meet too.. Kill it man.. Keep killing it I should say


Thanks brother  :Smilie:  it's 8 weeks from today. 

I'm not really going to compete, my numbers aren't even nearly competitive in my weight class except for maybe above average in local meets. It's just awsome to go and test yourself, set some PR's and have something to work towards. 

Would definitely recommend doing one once you're right back in the groove, i did a mock meet with a bunch of people and it was fantastic.

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## HGH4Lymes

nice job Khazima

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## Khazima

> nice job Khazima


Thanks mate  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Didn't workout today, just went and did some laboring for the day. Super tired now and really sunburnt lol ready to go away for Australia day weekend and come back fresh ready to hit the next training block hard. Got my programming completely sorted as of the moment, the plan is basically taper volume downward while increasing intensity, hopefully should peak nicely and hit the planned numbers.

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## Khazima

Got back from a trip over Australia day weekend yesterday, didn't feel like logging because i got home went straight to the gym and was completely exhausted by the time i got back. Yesterday i did;

Sets x Reps
Bench 3 x 8 / 1 x 6 
Floor press 3 x 5
OHP 4 x 8 / 1 x 6
Weighted pull-ups 3 x 5
Cable row 3 x 12-15

Then today was a heavy squat session which went really well, i was supposed to do 4 sets of 8 with 100kg but ended out doing;

8 x 105kg, 8 x 110kg, 8 x 115kg and 8 x 120kg which is a PR and a new projected max of 150kg, at the end of my working sets. I've got an AMRAP day for squats soon and i'm confident i'll hit a projected max of 160kg which is massive for me to hit this early in the year. 

After that i did some leg press superset with some leg extensions 20-25 reps to get the volume in on the quads since i'm only squatting once a week for now. I'll see how my knee feels next week and might go back to twice since it felt pretty good today. 

Pretty happy with the bench progression as well, AMRAP set later in the week so i'll be able to get a clearer picture of how it's progressed after that. 

No comment on deadlift yet, got a rep day coming up in 3 days so i'll have to see what i get up to there, i'm confident in the weight i'll pull but not the discomfort in my hips. Hopefully only doing a proper deadlift session once a week will allow my hips the time to recover between workouts. 

All in all really happy with progression so far, deloading was definitely the right option. Essentially put 20kg on my squat in a month, 5kg on my deadlift and 5kg on my bench, in which only the squat has really been 'tested' (sort of) so far. 

Bench/upper hypertrophy tomorrow, not working up to anything spectacular probably mostly focus on my chest/delts/arms plus some back and save the real back work for the AMRAP/speed day. 

Trainings a little all over the place at the moment with nothing really set in stone, but in doing so i've been making dramatic improvements in all areas. It's essentially my own programming/texas method/canditos 6 week peaking program dragged out into 8 weeks and an RPE style training. But hey, it's working right? I'll probably continue to do what i've been doing after the meet and if the progression isn't up to par i'll try something new and stick with it.

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## Khazima

Upper hypertrophy went well today, hit the numbers i was supposed to be hitting for the second time this time. Tomorrow's rest then heavy deadlifts, looking forward to testing some reps on that, will just have to see how i'm feeling on the day. Today i did;

Bench - 4 x 10/8/8/6
Incline DB bench - 3 x 8-10
Low to high cable flies - 3 x 15/12/12
Superset with cable laterals - 3 x 10-12
Pull-ups - AMRAP (12)
High to low cable fly 1 x dropset 15-12-8-6

Seated alternating DB curl 3 x 10-12
Overhead cable extension 3 x 20/15/12
Cable curl 3 x 20/15/12

Pretty cruisy day, good pumps etc had a serious sweat going. Really looking forward to deadlifting, hoping i've rested my hips up enough to let me get a good day of sumo in.

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## Khazima

Rest day today, had a really cruisy day feeling pretty damn lazy. So keen to hit some heavy deadlifts tomorrow. My legs are still a little bit sore but should be fine tomorrow once i'm rested and warmed up. 

Study starts again next week, so it'll put my routine back in place a lot nicer and hopefully i can get some part-time work in as well. 

My IPF approved belt still hasn't arrived which i'm pretty annoyed about, a got in contact with a supplier about a plain belt and he said he can arrange it which i couldn't imagine taking 2 weeks as well as it being an Australian company so it's not like international shipping is a factor. 

Mostly i need it ASAP so i can break it in, the belt i'm using at the moment took a while to break in but since it has it's been amazing and i'm not keen on going back to a super stiff belt. Hopefully i can just use mine at the meet, i messaged the host and he said it's fine since it's just a local meet but i want my total to be legit, not sure if it matters or not but i want my total to be eligible for bigger meets at the end of the year. 

Singlet should be coming some time soon so i'll probably do some training in it so i don't feel like such a twat putting it on for the first time at the meet. Although i've had pretty good confidence lately so probably won't be a problem.

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## bigrich4

What kind of numbers are you shooting for?

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## Khazima

> What kind of numbers are you shooting for?


100kg bench 160kg squat and 180kg deadlift @ 72kg. Poverty bench because of shoulder issues.

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## Khazima

Didn't feel like logging yesterday, deadlifts went like absolute dogshit. I started at the gym closest to my house and felt really good until the owner came up and said i can't drop (lower quickly) the deadlift because of the neighbours (an aquarium) so i left to go to another one a few train stops away and when i got there i got to the same weight (3 plates) and it was just feeling really heavy and slow. So i did a few doubles then the sets i was initially supposed to do before deciding to do an AMRAP and they went fine.

After that i just did 4 x 3/3/10/10 front squats, 3-4 sets of leg curls superset with high stance leg press and some calves, calves went the best out of everything lol.

Today was AMRAP for bench and i got 9 which puts me 6kg over my currently set 1rm and 4kg away from my goal for the meet, i'm pretty confident i'll be able to hit it as long as the 3 x a week benching doesn't catch up with me to early. After that i did 10 sets of 2 with speed bench, they felt fine, then i finished off with a back/biceps workout to conclude the week.

Rest tomorrow then back to the bench.

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## bigrich4

> 100kg bench 160kg squat and 180kg deadlift @ 72kg. Poverty bench because of shoulder issues.


Those lifts would be good at your weight bro.. Keep up the good work

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## Khazima

> Those lifts would be good at your weight bro.. Keep up the good work


Thanks man  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Rest again today, then some bench tomorrow. First bench session of the week is my favorite since it's the heavy OHP/floor press day as well. What i like most about going heavy(er) is that the progression is very black and white, you're either getting more reps/adding more weight or you're not. 

Also hoping to hit a bodyweight OHP soon, i'm about 20lb away from that so it's going to take quite a while, but that's just another goal i thought i'd list.

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## rahulsingh265

> Took these yesterday, 10 weeks total, 5kg lost. Pretty sure the one is red is a little more than 10 weeks old, but it represents nicely how fluffy I was 
> 
> Attachment 154086Attachment 154087Attachment 154088
> 
> Weak lighting btw, already got a bunch of photos with half natty lighting .


Good transformation bro  :Smilie: now your pecs looking similar to mine  :Wink:

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## Khazima

> Good transformation bro now your pecs looking similar to mine


Thanks man  :Smilie:  my pecs are lagging but when i have a shirt on they're one of my best bodyparts lol.

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## rahulsingh265

> Thanks man  my pecs are lagging but when i have a shirt on they're one of my best bodyparts lol.


When i have shirt on they disappear lol.... My height(6'4") is killing my pecs ;(

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## Khazima

> When i have shirt on they disappear lol.... My height(6'4") is killing my pecs ;(


Ahh, that's one thing i like about being short(ish), it's easier to look jacked haha.

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## rahulsingh265

One good thing about Being tall,its very difficult to look chubby hehe  :Wink:

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## Khazima

> One good thing about Being tall,its very difficult to look chubby hehe


Haha yeah, my mate is 6'3 with long arms and his leverages are amazing for the deadlift, pretty poor for the squat and has a surprisingly big bench even though his leverages are poor for that too.

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## Khazima

Benching went well enough today, I basically did the bare minimum i expected of myself, given i always have high expectations i'm not that wrapped about it. Same session in 2-3 days time so i'm probably going to rest the day after tomorrow then go for it again on thursday with a better mindset and a more clear vision of what i want to do. 

Squats tomorrow will be challenging but i'm looking forward to it as i always am with squat sessions. Can't get enough of squatting, just wish i didn't inherit dodgy joints. 

First day back to study today, went pretty well and the stuff we've been informed we're learning is quite interesting so it should be a good semester, definitely keen on expanding my knowledge more and getting the piece of paper to claim so.

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## rahulsingh265

> Haha yeah, my mate is 6'3 with long arms and his leverages are amazing for the deadlift, pretty poor for the squat and has a surprisingly big bench even though his leverages are poor for that too.


Well, my bench is weak,deadlift is ok , but squat is good.... But good thing is that, I'm doing decline barbell bench and incline db press and my chest is growing  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

> Well, my bench is weak,deadlift is ok , but squat is good.... But good thing is that, I'm doing decline barbell bench and incline db press and my chest is growing


My big 3 are the same, in comparison to bodyweight. Good stuff man  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

Training went well today, feel like i've tweaked something in my neck though. My training partner hit a 20kg PR which was pretty dope. Hit my numbers just fine and burnt out on the leg press afterwards. Whole workout was;

Squat - 4 sets of 6
Leg press 4 x 20-30 

Definitely going to stick with squatting once a week for now and maybe some extra volume on deadlift days when my knees feel up to it. 

Repeat of the other days bench workout tomorrow, hoping to do a little better than i did yesterday.

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## Khazima

Bench + upper body hypertrophy today, went really well. I hit the same numbers as i hit on monday with the bench which is fine especially since i hadn't fully recovered yet. After the 3 sets of bench i did;

Incline DB bench - 3 x 10-12
Pull-ups - 4 x AMRAP
Cable flies - 3 x 12-15
Cable lateral raises - 5 x 12-20
Cable row - 4 x 12-15
Overhead DB extensions - 3 x 8-12
Seated DB curls - 4 x 6-10
Cable rope hammer curls - 3 x 12-15

Great workout all in all, really happy with how my delts are looking and my back, arms and chest are still difficult but i'm placing more focus on those on the upper hypertrophy day. With the 2 other bench days there's really no need to do any more than 10 sets on the hypertrophy days, i feel as though the intensity will be the determining factor when it comes to those higher rep sets since my bench is focused on maximum efficiency and strength so my chest isn't getting the best workout so to speak.

The intensity is definitely there with these hypertrophy days and i really enjoy it, with lower rep schemes it's a lot harder to push for extra reps since you're only so strong, say you can bench 200lb for 3 reps, you can't just dig deep and get 6 since you're simply not that strong yet. But if you're doing say cable rows or chest flies for 12 reps, you can dig deep and push for 15 or even more. 

It's a strange (and irrelevant) measure of strength but i feel as though my back has gotten significantly stronger because on cable rows i'm rowing 30-40 more pounds for more reps than i was recently (maybe a month or two ago). 

Anyway that's the log for today, feeling great and keen to get in and kill it after a day of rest. 

Hoping to hit the deadlifts better than my last deadlift day.

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## bigrich4

Good shit khaz. . Do you do speed work for squats at all? Or just heavy? I like it, its such a big lift, scary. Not like the deadlift where you can just drop it. When im squatting its like , shit this is gonna crush me.. anyway. Youre pushing good weight. Benching 3 times?
whsts your week look like now?

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## Khazima

> Good shit khaz. . Do you do speed work for squats at all? Or just heavy? I like it, its such a big lift, scary. Not like the deadlift where you can just drop it. When im squatting its like , shit this is gonna crush me.. anyway. Youre pushing good weight. Benching 3 times?
> whsts your week look like now?


Thanks man  :Smilie:  I was doing a rotation of 9 days with 3 squat sessions and 3 bench sessions with the last sessions being speed (for squat/bench and dead) but my knee flared up again so i've cut it back to 1 heavy session a week and 1 deadlift session with the squat/front squat/pause squat as an accessory. 


Right now its;
Day 1 - Bench (heavy) 
Day 2 - Squat (heavy) 
Day 3 - Bench or rest (rep work) 
Day 4 - Rest if i didn't on day 3 or bench (rep)
Day 5 - Deadlift (heavy) 
Day 6 - Bench (speed) 
Day 7 - Rest 

Yeah the squat can be scary lol, i'm pretty confident with dumping though so it doesn't really worry me, if i'm not in a rack or have ropes at the meet it might worry me a little more since i have to rely on the spotters.

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## rahulsingh265

> Bench + upper body hypertrophy today, went really well. I hit the same numbers as i hit on monday with the bench which is fine especially since i hadn't fully recovered yet. After the 3 sets of bench i did;
> 
> Incline DB bench - 3 x 10-12
> Pull-ups - 4 x AMRAP
> Cable flies - 3 x 12-15
> Cable lateral raises - 5 x 12-20
> Cable row - 4 x 12-15
> Overhead DB extensions - 3 x 8-12
> Seated DB curls - 4 x 6-10
> ...


Good going! brother  :Smilie:  keep it up

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## Khazima

> Good going! brother  keep it up


Cheers bro  :Smilie:

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## bigrich4

Hey khaz does the gym you train at have different types of bars? I like throwing in the multi grip bar in for bench to mix it up. Good looking week too man, cant wait to see what you put up ij the meet.

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## Khazima

> Hey khaz does the gym you train at have different types of bars? I like throwing in the multi grip bar in for bench to mix it up. Good looking week too man, cant wait to see what you put up ij the meet.


Thanks rich. Nah the gym i frequent the most only has olympic bars and one that's slightly thicker (that i hate) and the other one i frequent less has a safety squat bar that the owner keeps out the back and you have to ask for. So not much variety there, if i had different bars i'd change it up regularly.

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## Khazima

Rested up today, feeling fresh and ready for tomorrow and i haven't even slept yet. Got some rep deadlifts tomorrow which are already incredibly hard so that should be fun.

Probably going to check out a new gym that's a little further away but might be significantly better as well so hopefully i can get the session in there to test out their deadlift platforms especially since that's one of the main reasons i want to change. 

Realized today i've got no bac water left and don't get paid for a few more days so i have to ration my mod grf for the new 3-4 days and use sterile water to take my weekly TB-500 dose. 

I'm pretty happy with the results so far, i think i can attribute staying relatively lean while gaining 5kg quite a lot to the peptides, a few people said i look bigger and leaner which led to me and my gym partner talking about the effectiveness of the peptides, he seems to think there's no way they couldn't be working with the results i've been getting but i think it's a combination of getting a rebound effect after dieting, learning a lot about my body over the past few months and focusing somewhat more on getting bigger.

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## Khazima

Went to check out the other (better) local gym today and i gotta say i want to change, it has deadlift platforms, more squat racks, an extra bench and a bunch of plate loaded/hammer strength machines. Seems like a no brainer to me. There's a few downsides like not being a 24/7 gym, only having one of the gyms (my current gym is a franchise and has gyms everywhere) and a lot of people i know (and don't particularly like) go there but probably not at the same times as me generally. 

Did deadlifts today, 4 sets of 6 reps. It was pretty hard and my thumb got ripped up on my shorts because of the sumo stance and my hands scraping along my quads. Other than that the session went really well and altogether the workout was;

Deadlifts 4 x 6
Straight leg deads 3 x 6-8
Single leg, leg curls 2 x 12-15

Went to do some front squats but it was to much pressure on my knee, pretty sure it needs the week between any heavy squatting to prevent any inflammation. Definitely keen to go there again tomorrow and test out their bench + take the hammer strength back machines for a test drive.

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## Khazima

Hit up the new gym again for a speed bench/back workout. Gonna have another 3 sessions there at a few different times to see if i actually want to change or not, there's a lot of positives but a few crucial negatives as well, but most importantly i think it'll benefit my training which to me is most important. 

I hate change and like to stay in a groove but it's what keeps me stuck in a rut at times and leads to depression and my anxiety worsening, so i think small things like this are good steps for me to take to help me with these sorts of things. 

Today i did;

Bench 1 x AMRAP / 5 x 2 w/bands
Hammer strength low row 3 x 10-12
Pull-ups 2 x 12
Hammer strength pulldown 3 x 12-15
Chest supported row 2 x 10-12 

Preacher curl 4 x 12-15
Seated dip machine 3 x 12-20

Really just got around to try out as many pieces of equipment as possible and most of it feels really good. 

The main deal breaker for my gym is the deadlift situation, we can't lower weights quickly (aka drop weights) and the other franchise that's a train trip away's deadlift platform has gone to shit. 

The new gym has 2 deadlift platforms and a room where we can take the bar into and put our own music on/drop weights all we like. That's a massive thing for me because i like to deadlift 1-2x per week for about 2 hours at a time. The squat racks are decent but not all that great, the bench is similar in quality. Dumbbells go higher but that doesn't matter yet, more machines and more variety. 

It's a damn hard choice lol but i'll be going for 3 more sessions then doing a few sessions at my current gym and deciding after that before the monthly deal ends with no sign up fee.

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## Khazima

Resting today, lower back is still a bit sore from deadlifts on friday so hopefully that's all good for the grueling squat session coming up in 2 days. What i've got programmed is an AMRAP with 80% of my currently estimated 1rm, then 8-10 backoff sets of 3 with 82.5% with 60 seconds rest between them after. Should be fun.

Tomorrows bench though, few sets of 6 then next week is 4-6 where it starts to get heavy.

Something i've noticed with my deadlift is that the first rep is always really good and the next few take me a while to find a nice groove. I'll be looking into it more but i may just do back to back singles during the sets of 3-5 instead of holding onto the bar. As in i'll fully reset between every rep how ever many times the set requires. 

Looking forward to benching tomorrow, progress is steady. Just trying to keep putting the work in and trusting the process.

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## Java Man

Great log. Love the name  :Smilie:

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## Khazima

> Great log. Love the name


haha thanks man  :Smilie:

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## GirlyGymRat

> haha thanks man


Shouldn't stop in your thread for a little encouragement this morning. Had a fight with myself about leaving for the gym!!! Good girly won  :Smilie: . Did 60 minutes on stair master and abbreviated arm. Started a 30 day plank challenge just for fun.

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## Khazima

> Shouldn't stop in your thread for a little encouragement this morning. Had a fight with myself about leaving for the gym!!! Good girly won . Did 60 minutes on stair master and abbreviated arm. Started a 30 day plank challenge just for fun.


That's awsome to hear  :Smilie:  Goodluck with it!

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## Khazima

Bench went really well today, hit my numbers perfectly for the first time this training block. Hopefully it means the trainings coming together nicely. After that did a little OHP and some close-grip. 

Definitely not changing gyms, got to the one we were trialing at about 6:45am and it was completely packed. The main times i'll be there are the times i've tested and it's always completely packed, average atmosphere and everything i want/need to use is always taken by someone doing pointless exercises with it. Definitely content with staying where we are, just going to have to figure out a better deadlift situation and it should be good to go. 

Got a hard leg day tomorrow, really looking forward to it. Probably going to wait until after study since today even with a bench workout my learning suffered a little and i wasn't half as fried as i'm going to be after that. Plus the gym at my campus is pretty good and completely empty right now (closed for a few more weeks except to fitness diploma students).

Starting to really like the gangsta wraps by mark bell now, i've figured them out a little more (lol) and found a way to make them comfortable and really effective, plus i love the extra length and versatility. 

Also ordered a few others things from slingshot like the hip circle, 2 compression cuffs and most importantly the slingshot itself, which i'm really excited to use. I feel like it's going to be quite a valuable tool especially since whenever i get to a max with a weight i haven't held before it comes as a shock how heavy it feels. So being able to do a few reps with my max attempt before i attempt it should prove to be quite beneficial. Plus i've built up the speed off my chest so much in the last 2 months that my lockout is a weakpoint now. Which i suppose is a good thing, as long as it's atleast maintained not regressed.

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## Khazima

Today was the really hard squat session i'd been anticipating for a while, it was about as hard as i expected it to be but experiencing it was another story. I smashed the MR10 (max reps, no more than 10) and pretty sure i got 11, did an extra since i lost count and wanted to make sure. Which puts my projected max at 160kg (352lb) at about 158lb. 

The whole workout was;

Squat - MR10
Squat - +5lb ontop of MR10 for 10 sets of 3 with 1 min rest between.

Hoping to hit 160 for my third attempt at the meet but that'll depend on how 140 and 150 feel, if 140 is really easy i'll go for 155 then 165 or stay with 140/150/160. 

Repeat bench day tomorrow + upper hypertrophy. Should be fun, loving the jacked and tan workouts.

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## Khazima

Posted in my photo log as well. 

Some more recent photos i took last night after being surprised i still had abs at the end of the day lol. Bulkings going well keeping it below 74kg for the meet sitting at around 72.5 atm. 

Not flexed/flexed
Attachment 155282Attachment 155284Attachment 155286

Random pics
Attachment 155281Attachment 155283Attachment 155285

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## Khazima

Bench went really well today, hit my numbers perfectly and an extra rep on the last set for a somewhat volume PR. After that i did some push accessories and was feeling stronger on my incline DB pressing which is great. The whole workout was;

Bench - 3 x 8/6/7 (would've been fine with 8/6/5)
Pull-ups - 3 x 8-10
Incline DB press - 4 x 12/10/10/8
Cable fly - 4 x 12-15 
Superset with cable row - 3 x 12-15

Seated DB laterals - 5 x 10-20
Superset with DB rear delt fly - 3 x 15-20
Facepulls - 4 x 12-15

Tricep pushdown - 4 x 12-20
Superset with machine preacher curl - 4 x 12-15
Close-grip bench - 3 x 20
Seated DB hammer curl - 4 x 12-15
Superset with Overhead cable tricep extensions - 3 x 12-15

I was actually feeling quite burnt out today, a sign that i'm starting to get into over-reaching territory which is a good thing especially after the leg session yesterday. The plan is to dig deep for the next 2-3 weeks and train really hard before tapering the volume and peaking the intensity, reducing fatigue while peaking performance then deloading the last week to allow my body to supercompensate and come back stronger than ever.

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## Khazima

Deadlifts ended out going really well today, i was still a little sore from the grueling leg session but once i got warmed up and in the zone i didn't even notice it. 

On the program i'm taking my numbers from i'm supposed to do the same squat workout as the other day with slightly different weights but since my knees won't like squatting that hard twice in a week i decided to do the same thing but with deadlifts and it worked just fine.

Form was feeling really good and i was feeling strong especially on my first reps. Trained at the tafe gym so i had a decent platform, able to take my shirt off with the gym to myself (and my training partner) + drop weights etc. I definitely think i'll go to my tafe gym for deadlifts from now on. 

The workout was;

Deadlift - 1 x AMRAP
Deadlift - 8 x 3

I got a video of the AMRAP and it looked like i could've got another rep but i'm happy with what i got, it adds up to a slightly higher projected max than i've already hit and my singles are stronger than my repetitions with sumo.

Speed bench tomorrow and a back workout, then a rest day and the start of week 3!

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## Khazima

I must've been really lost this morning because i was sitting around waiting for a mate to get home so we could go to the gym, i was just watching youtube videos and browsing the forum until it was time to leave. Got to the gym for my bench speed day and realized i'd forgotten my oly shoes, my bands (the main part of my speed day) and my phone. I have no idea where my head was at lol but the workout went pretty well anyway. Just upped the weight and hit the reps as fast and as hard as i could with a lot of focus on technique. 

After that everybody got to the gym, did some extra chest volume which once again i set a rep PR on the incline DB bench, i got about 20 reps with 25kg DBs (60lb?) and almost 15 with 30kg (70lb?) DBs. 

Then i did the pull-up 'challenge' (i suppose) that big rich recommended and did 50 wide-grip pull-ups in total, took me about 7 sets to do going something like 9/6/5/5/5/5/5/5/5, after the first few sets i kept capping out at 5 which i suppose was perfect. 

Then i just did bent over rows/cable rows and some arms. Whole workout looked like;

Bench - 6-8 (sets) x 2-3 (reps)
Pull-ups - 50 total reps
Bent-over row - 4 x 10-12
Incline bench - 4 x 25/20/15/12
Cable row - 3 x 12-20

Seated DB curl - 3 x 10-15

Giant set with; 
Rope hammer curl - 12-20
Machine preacher curl - 10-12
Tricep pushdown 12-20
Repeated - x 4

I'm still getting heaps of acne on my shoulder/upper arms and back, not sure if it's the peptides or just diet and hygiene but it's not as bad on my face so i'm guessing it's the peptides. 

Been getting a fair few comments lately especially from my gym partner saying i'm leaning out even though i'm getting bigger, and one of my other mates asked if i'd started the juice and not told him (we planned on getting on it together before i did enough research to realize it was a bad idea) because of all the acne and the gains i've been making. 

Super hungry now, can't wait to get a feed in me.. almost dinner time.

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## Khazima

Bench went REALLY well today, got up early to workout before going to classes and form was on point, energy was there, everything went perfectly, after that hit some rep PR's on OHP and did some close grip bench. Workout was as follows;

Bench - 4 x 4-6 (got 6 on all 4 sets)
OHP - 3 x 2-3
Pull-ups - 2 x AMRAP
Close grip bench - 4 x 6-12
Cable row 3 x 12-20

Workout felt great, didn't want to press too much since i've got a similar session but with upper hypertrophy in 2 days. Can't wait for squats tomorrow, everything's finally starting to get heavy and the meets creeping closer and closer. So excited to smash some PR's especially bench and get past this weak point in my total. I feel like once i get 2 plates out of the way it'll be a massive mental advantage.

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## Khazima

Squats went pretty shitty today, felt off and barely hit my numbers, felt burnt out and had to grind a bunch of reps which sorta fried me for the rest of the day. To top that off i think i may have hurt my back from letting my form break down so much. I'm hoping it's just a pull or a strain and not a herniated or slipped disk. The pain is bearable but definitely not to do more squats or deadlifts, today anyway.

After the squats i did a few high rep sets on the leg press then calves and finished with abs, something i haven't trained in a long time but i'm going to start incorporating a few exercises at the end of lower body days because i feel like my posture may have something to do with abdominal weakness and lower back tightness, leading me to have some lumbar lordosis and painful back pumps just from standing for extended periods of time. So i'm going to experiment with that and see what happens. 

Bench tomorrow, hopefully there's no back pain or it at least doesn't affect my bench. Worse case scenario would be not being able to even bench or having pain upon waking, but a close second would be not being able to set up properly lol. Bench went really well the other day so i'm excited to see what happens tomorrow and hopefully it's more PR's.

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## Khazima

Benching went alright, under-ate a bit yesterday so i think it impacted on how well it went, it didn't go amazingly like the other day but i scraped by hitting the numbers. After that i just did a full upper body workout, mostly focusing on chest/delts/arms. Whole workout looked like;

Bench 3 x 4
Incline DB bench 4 x 8-12
DB laterals 2 x 12-20
Cable fly 4 x 12-15
Superset with cable laterals 10-15

Close grip bench 3 x 12-20
Wide grip bench 2 x 10-12
Seated DB curl 3 x 10-12
Machine preacher curl 3 x 12-15
Seated hammer curl 2 x 10-12

Decent workout in general, starting to look a little more fluffy some days more than others or maybe i was just flat today because of the lack of carbs yesterday. I tried to make up for that this morning having 100g carbs before my workout but it just didn't work like that unfortunately. 

Back was feeling fine except for a few small occasions where it would hurt a small amount, tried to just lay off it and i'm resting tomorrow so hopefully it's good to go for deadlifts the day after.

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## teacherman

Blah this log has made me want to cut. Finish the week off and im going to cut haha

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## Khazima

> Blah this log has made me want to cut. Finish the week off and im going to cut haha


Haha being lean is over-rated man, it's all about them gains.

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## Khazima

Ended out working out twice today, i was supposed to deadlift + accessory but my mid back still hurts to put a load like that on it so in the morning i just decided to bench and was planning on trying again or just doing some squats (in hope that it wouldn't hurt at all) and i hit my numbers for 6 instead of 4 like i did the other day, over or under eating is definitely the difference between a good workout for me. 

I was working out with a mate today and he was just doing whatever i'm doing so when i did the 50 rep pull-up 'challenge' (i suppose i'll call it that?' it naturally became a race, it was awsome and we smashed through it in a few minutes, we were literally 1 rep apart the whole time and we both failed half way with the last rep 3 times until i got it just before him lol, it was good. 

After that we did a bunch of cable fly's, cable rows and some arms then called it a day and headed to study. 

Then came a massive break i didn't realize we had today, about 90 minutes so everyone else headed to the gym and i decided to do some squats, worked up to some easy triples, did some pause squats then some leg press and finished with calves. The workouts in their entirety were;

*Workout A*
Bench press - 3 x 4-6 (got 6, all 3 sets PR's)
Bench press - 1 x burn out 
Pull-ups - 50 reps
Cable fly - 4 x 20/20/15/15
Cable row - 4 x 20/15/15/12
Tricep pushdown - 4 x 15-20
Superset with rope curl - x 15-20
Facepulls 3 x 12-15

*Workout B*
Squat - 5 x 3
Pause squat - 5 x 3
Leg press - 5 x 15-30, triple dropset last set
Standing calf raise - 4 x 12-20

All in all both workouts went really well, the leg session mostly being the fact that form was on point and i had no pain whatsoever.

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## Khazima

Bench went great today, everything's been pushed forward a day because of the double session the other day. I plan on going in tomorrow and hitting what I've got programmed for squats but if I get near my top sets and my backs playing up at all I'll just back it down and hit the volume. 

So today went really well, overate yesterday in preparation for some heavy benching and I ended out hitting my previous max for 2 paused relatively easy, as well as smashing the programmed numbers adding an extra rep easily to the top set. After that I did a bunch of extra volume work, whole workout was;

Bench - 3 x 3/3/3/2/2/2
Wide grip bench - 3 x 6
Close grip bench - 3 x 12/10/10
Pull-ups - Total 50 reps
Cable fly - 3 x 20/15/15
Cable row - 4 x 20/15/15/10 + triple drop set
Face pulls - 3 x 15
Tricep push downs - 3 x 20-30
Superset with preacher curl - x 20
Rope cable curl - 3 x 15
Superset with body weight dip - x 15

Wasn't really a planned workout as everything's been thrown off a little but I was mostly focusing on hypertrophy for anything that needed extra volume.

I'm pretty sure I have a tear somewhere in my right rotator cuff, I've been pretty sure for a while but the lagging development and strength in my right shoulder (my stronger arm) is sticking out like a sore thumb, going to see the doc on Wednesday to arrange and MRI and see where to go from there. 

While I'm there I'll try to talk him into checking my hormones, checking out my possible gyno as well as scanning my back. 

Get everything done at once lol.

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## Khazima

Squats went well this morning, I ended out hitting my previous 1rm for my top set of 3 which is really encouraging. It was feeling really good today and I think I know why, squatting once a week just won't do. With the high frequency high volume training I was doing a week between squat sessions leads me to detrain really quickly. 

I squatted for a second time last week because I couldn't deadlift and it felt great, then I came in today (4 days later) and absolutely killed it. After that I just did some super sets and some abs. The whole workout was;

*Main work*
Squat - 6 x 3/3/3(PR)/8/8/8

*Superset*
3 x Leg press - x 20/20/30
Leg extension - x 15/15/20
Leg curl - x 20/20/30

*Abs*
Ab rollout 2 x 10
Hanging leg raises 3 x 20

Going to start adding in abs on both my squat/deadlift sessions because I think it's playing a roll in my lumbar lordosis as well as being a potential weak link (unlikely) in my lifts.

Another bench session tomorrow, can't wait.

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## bigrich4

Well louie simmons says your squat depends on your abs and lower back, so its a very good idea to hit them more. He does a lot of static abs, standing.

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## Khazima

> Well louie simmons says your squat depends on your abs and lower back, so its a very good idea to hit them more. He does a lot of static abs, standing.


Yeah man it's definitely one of the biggest if not the biggest factor in your squat besides maybe legs, but even then if you can't stabilize a weight your legs won't get the chance to do the lift.

What really changed my mind was an article referring to a study about the activation of the abdominals in the squat/deadlift vs abdominal focused exercises. The squat and deadlift were far superior for the posterior but the anterior (abdominals) need separate focus with ab exercises.

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## Khazima

Bench went really well again today i hit the same numbers except this time i got my previous PR for 3 reps paused this time. Great to see my bench finally starting to make a good amount of progress. The workout was;

Bench 5 x 3/3/3/2/2
Weighted pull-up 3 x 5
OHP - 3 x 2/3/3
Close grip bench 3 x 8-10
Cable row 3 x 15/15/10+ triple dropset

Today at tafe we had to do some cardio testing, a 275m shuttle run for time, i got 1 minute 20 seconds and a 12 minute run which i got 2km in. I sort of surprised myself with how fit i still am compared to the average joe even though i hardly do any cardio and don't eat that well. Eating plenty of food to make up for it though haha. 

Rest tomorrow which for once i'm kind of looking forward to since i'm tired. I'll probably be saying otherwise tomorrow when it's 2pm and i'm itching to lift. After that is heavy deadlifts if i feel 100% or i'll just do some squats.

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## Khazima

Smashed some PRs today, really happy about it. In my current training i've got my max on squats set 10kg higher than what i'd actually hit before because i hit higher projected max's with AMRAP sets multiple times beforehand. Last few sessions have shown that i'm definitely up to par with my projected max's. Today i hit;

Squat - 140kg x 3 (same PR as the other day) and 142.5kg x 2, the heaviest i've gone with squats and got it for a double.
Then deadlifts - 147.5kg x 3 and 152.5kg for 2, never hit them before but not necessarily PR's.

After that i worked up on the leg press and did a triple dropset after 2 working sets, burning out at the end then some calves and called it a day.

Trainings going really well i'm super excited to see what i can put up at the meet.

Speed bench + pull workout tomoz.

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## RaginCajun

datta boy, way to smash it!

how long until your meet?

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## Khazima

> datta boy, way to smash it!
> 
> how long until your meet?


Thanks brother  :Smilie: 

Just over 3 weeks.

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## bigrich4

Nice khaz. . Looking forward to see what yohr numbers are at the meet. keep pushing... are you planning a deload soon? Id do one about a week or more from the meet.

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## Khazima

> Nice khaz. . Looking forward to see what yohr numbers are at the meet. keep pushing... are you planning a deload soon? Id do one about a week or more from the meet.


Thanks rich 

I'll be deloading the week leading up to the meet, i'll only be fully resting for the two days before the meet as i find whenever i take a full week off i detrain really quickly and it takes me a week or two to get back into. This will definitely be something i play around with in future meets/training cycles though.

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## Khazima

Bench went INCREDIBLY well today, the plan was to go in and hit a few singles at an RPE 8.5-9, i ended out hitting a 5kg PR at about RPE 9 getting 95kg for a paused single relatively easy. 100kg is definitely in my sights for the meet. After that i hit an easy 2.5kg PR on overhead press and got extra volume in with close grip and incline DB press. The whole workout was;

Bench - 90/92.5/95kg (5kg PR)
OHP - 60kg x 3/62.5kg x 1/65kg x 1 (PR) then 3 x 3 with 60kg
Pull-ups - 3 x 10
Close-grip bench - 3 x 4-6
Barbell row - 5 x 6-12
Incline DB bench - Worked up to a PR set of 70lb DBs (32.5kg) for 10
Barbell curl - 3 x 10-12
Superset seated hammer curl - x 10-12

Really happy with the progress, had to stop myself from going for the 2 plates today, i'm definitely going to save it for the meet and keep myself keen. 

Changes in my programming have happened along the way due to injuries healing/happening and my lack of discipline when it comes to taking time off of the gym. My training has been pushed 2 days forward which is actually a good thing since it gives me a full 5 days to deload before the meet but it may induce more of a fatigue debt come meet time.

My back playing up really threw a spanner in the works for the deadlift but it also helped me realise i need to squat twice a week to reach the full potential of my current capabilities in it, IMO deadlift goes up with your squat and not visa versa, so training it once a week should be plenty. My back is almost fully recovered though, no pain from heavy deadlifts the other day nor squats. So the plan it to repeat the last week since it was pushed forward due to the back injury and because i miscalculated the bench progression. I'll be doing a similar bench workout but slightly raising the numbers and lowering the reps, unlikely going above 92.5kg or staying around 90kg for doubles until the final week where i test with 1-4 reps on all my lifts, then deload and then it's meet time. 

Ran into the owner of the other gym i frequently train at and they're having another backyard meet a few weeks after my meet so that'll be cool, i'll probably deload the week after the meet depending on how i'm feeling then peak for 3-4 weeks before that next meet.

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## Khazima

Squatting went as expected today, wasn't 100% recovered and my lower back was a little tired. Still managed to hit the specified numbers, triples of 135/137.5/140kg but the last rep was a bit of a grinder (expected) then after was some deadlift variations but i decided to do some technique work then some other accessories. Whole workout was;

Squat - 135/137.5/140kg x 3
Deficit sumo DL - 2 x 6
Conventional DL - worked up to a conservative max
Leg press - Worked up to 5 plates a side for 2 sets of 20 then did a x4 dropset of 8/20/30/50 reps
Calf raises - 5 x 10-12
Hamstring curl - 2 x 20
Ab wheel - 3 x 10

Was completely dead after the leg pressing then the ab rollouts, got home feeling really sick and had to sit in the shower for 20 mins, i thought i was going to spew and turned pretty pale. 

After a debate with my strength and conditioning teacher about the importance of nutrient timing he actually went out of his way to show me some research and some great study papers/meta-analysis' of previous studies and trials done to do with nutrient timing specifically of protein or protein+carbs pre/intra and post workout. I'm not fully convinced as i'm still at the stance that total protein intake is all that's really important but if there are small benifits to nutrient timing which i believe there would be then i'd like to take advantage of that as well as implement it with clients.

For now i'm switching back to an all out bro style nutrient timing regiment with a whey/maltodextrin shake an hour before and 30-60 mins post workout. If there's any real benifit to it i'll definitely notice as my progress and recovery etc is well documented in this log as well as in some other files and folders i have documenting these things. 

Rest tomorrow (much needed) then my second last heavy(ish) bench session for the prep. Our strength and conditioning teacher expects us to test our true 1rms on tuesday but that's definitely not happening lol.

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## Khazima

Smashed my squat numbers today, did the same as last week except with slightly higher numbers. Got 145kg for a triple on squats after 140 for 3, which is a PR, then deadlifts were the same as last week but i missed the second rep, i could have grinded it out but my form was compromised and i was already quite fried, especially having to rush the workout. 

I'm a little unhappy that i missed the second rep and as usual i'm not happy with my deadlift form, i just can't get it right so it's back to the drawing board after the meet. I'm still confident i'll hit a PR or atleast hit 160 again at the meet.

Bench yesterday went terribly, i accidentally lifted too much but the numbers i was hitting i should have destroyed anyway. I felt completely burnt out and feeling somewhat unmotivated. Lots of signs i'm over-reached, hardly any proper training left before i have a high intensity low volume week then a deload, then the meet. 17 days to go, can't wait to kill it.

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## RaginCajun

BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

sounds like you are killin' it!!!!!!!!!

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## Khazima

> BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> sounds like you are killin' it!!!!!!!!!


Thanks man! I'm hoping the good times keep rolling haha

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## Khazima

Last volume benching session today, worked up to a top set of 90 x 2 and hit it easily. I was rushing my sets working up to it and felt like i might miss the second rep but i was just short changing myself with the rest periods between the initial sets, i took a longer rest and absolutely annihilated the 90 x 2. 

After that i just did a whole bunch of higher rep delt/back/arm work and some but not much extra chest work. Really starting to deload the main lifts and the muscles involved in preparation for maxing next week. The workout today was;

Bench - 3 x 3/2-4/1-2 (got 3/4/2)
Pull-ups - 50 total reps
DB incline bench - 1 x 20
Cable row - 4 x 12-20
Cable fly - 2 x 15-20
Rope hammer curl - 3 x 12-20
Incline DB curl - 3 x 10-12
Superset with;
BB curl - 10-12
Skullkrusher - 10-12
Close grip bench with the same bar - 20-30

Lateral raises throughout the workout - 7-8 sets of 12-15 reps.

Feeling great, shoulders are starting to feel a little beaten up and getting mild elbow discomfort while warming up on bench, which i think would be solved if i did more reps with just the bar or some light tricep pushdowns first.

Hoping to keep these injuries at bay and they're definitely there but i'm confident they won't affect my meet but we'll see. Going to take some time to really let some stuff recover before i hit it hard again (post meet).

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## Khazima

Smashed my last squat 'volume' (by volume i mean more than singles and more than 1 set) session today with a 3x3 then some deadlifts, got 3 plates for a relatively easy 3x3 with only the last rep being a grind after misgrooving really badly out of the hole.

After that i hit a bit of deadlift variation, after a 3x6-8 of stiff leg deadlifts i played around with my conventional again this time working up to an easy 3 plates. Probably going to practice it a lot more after the meet and see where i can go with it as i'm not too happy with my sumo but i'd switched to sumo initially because i wasn't happy with my conventional.. So it's a bit of a back and forth game with the deadlift but we'll see what happens over the years to come. 

Once i got to a top set on conventionals i did some calves/abs and called it a day. Started to lose motivation somewhat, almost looking forward to a deload which is really rare for me. Can't wait to kill it, only 13 days to go.

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## Khazima

Last 'volume' bench session today, did 4-5 singles with 90kg relatively easy, next week is a single AMRAP set with 92.5kg which will give me a good idea of what i'll be able to hit at the meet. Whole workout was;

Bench - 5 x 1
Pull-ups - 5 x 8-10
Bent-over rows - 3 x 8-12
Lateral raises superset with bent over laterals - 5 x 12-20
Cable fly superset with cable row - 3 x 12-20

Seated alternating bicep curl - 3 x 8-10
Incline dumbbell curl - 4 x 8-12

Tri-set x 4;
Rope hammer curl - 12-15
Rope pushdown - 12-15
Single arm cable pushdown - 10-12

Definitely been noticing my biceps coming along which i'm quite happy about, the increases frequency and volume is really starting to pay off. I plan on focusing more on the triceps after this prep too since i'll probably go to benching 2x per week once with a focus on chest/shoulders and once with a focus on chest and triceps probably while continuing to hit the biceps 3x per week and back 3x per week with one day focused on it.

Super happy with how trainings going, resting tomorrow which i'm looking forward to. 

Also planning on increasing the calories since i'm stagnant on my weight at around 3000 calories so i'll start shooting around 3200-3300. Probably going to get to around 75kg from my current 72kg hopefully putting on another 1-2kg muscle before the 6 week cut when my family goes away.

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## Khazima

Destroyed the top set of deadlifts today, it was a single set of 1-4 with 155kg and i got all 4 reps, the last one being a real grind. This puts my projected max around 170kg and with my first rep always being my best i'm hoping to get 170-175 at the meet. That's it for the deadlifts, now i've got one heavy bench session and one heavy squat session before the deload. The last few workouts will be full body workouts generally, just doing something mild for most body parts and the focus set for the day, so today was;

Deadlift - 1 x 4
Speed bench - 5 x 3
Squat - 3 x 3 
Pull-ups - 4 x 8
Cable row - 2 x 10-15
Superset with rope pushdown - 2 x 12-15

Deadlift felt great, really liking the power shoe so far, seems like it's only getting better the more i get used to it. 

Rest tomorrow then bench, really hoping to get all 4 reps with that too since it'll finally put me over 100kg on the bench. After that my shoulders are going to need another rest which is going to let my bench lag further behind once again more than likely. After the meet i'll be getting my x-rays/MRI's done on my shoulder to see what's really going on in there and whether it'll need surgery or not.

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## Khazima

Final heavy bench session today, 205 for 1-4, i got two and bailed on the third deciding i didn't want to grind it out. I may have been able to get it but i really wasn't feeling it. 

Just a max session of squats to go on sunday then 6 days to the meet. After bench i did some rows/pull-ups/arms and delts and called it there. Whole workout was;

Bench - 1 x 2 then some singles and an AMRAP with 170 (got 8, PR)
Pull-ups - 4 x 8-10
Bent-over rows - 3 x 8-12
Chest fly - 3 x 15-20
Cable row - 3 x 10-12
Seated DB curl - 2 x 12-15
Incline DB curl - 4 x 10-12
Tricep pushdown - 2 x 12-15
Rope hammer curl - 3 x 12-15

We realized a few days ago that the 20kg plates at our gym aren't 20kg, they're between 19.2-19.5kg which could make a massive difference in my deadlift and squats especially, up to 5-6kg difference on my top sets which would be the difference between making or failing my attempts at the meet. Probably going to lower my openers slightly just to see how it feels on the day, the openers i planned on hitting are relatively conservative and definite green lights but the jumps i had planned just won't work if i'm lifting 5-6kg less than i thought.

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## Khazima

Final squat session today! Instead of hitting the numbers i was supposed to hit i decided to round it off to 150kg (instead of 147.5kg) and try that for a set of 1-4. I've never had more than 145kg on my back and i hit it for 4 reps. More than likely it was actually 145kg though because of the plates probably being underweight, hence why i just rounded it off. 

Really happy with that result, putting my projected max at 164kg, hoping to hit atleast 155kg at the meet with legit weight.

Including and after that i did;

Squat 1 x 4 
Bench 4 x 1/1/1/5
Pull-up 2 x 12
Cable row 2 x 15
Chest fly 1 x 20
Leg press 2 x 15/20
Lateral raise 2 x 15
Incline DB curl 2 x 12
Seated calf raise 3 x 15
Ab rollout 2 x 10

Just hit everything a little bit and called it a day. Knees are a little beat up after those squats but i was really happy with how it was feeling and moving. Super stoked with the massive PR especially hitting it while i'm sick. Woke up yesterday with a cold and felt even worse today. I'm thinking i'll be fine tomorrow or the day after.

Woke up today at 74kg because i've been eating like crazy after having trouble gaining weight for a little while. Then my weight basically jumped 2kg in 4-5 days. Should be easy to maintain here for the next 5 days and maybe let it come down a little bit just so i can hydrate and eat more before the 2 hour weigh in.

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## Khazima

Went in to hit some openers today except for deadlifts since i want my hips to be as fresh as possible for Saturday. Everything's feeling really easy, 140kg squat x 1 super easy and a 90kg bench just as easy, shouldn't be a problem to hit them even if the weights are heavier at the meet. 

After that i just did some light cable fly's to get the blood flowing in the chest/shoulders and a few high rep sets of rows.

Looking into smolov JR for bench, probably going to start it the Monday after the meet in prep for the meet about 3 weeks after at a local gym (just a backyard meet). I'd like to do it for squats too but there's no way my knees would hold up so i'll just continue squatting twice and deadlifting once. If that becomes manageable i'll add a third squat day, will just have to wait and see how my knees are feeling.

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## Khazima

First meet was today, the lifting went well but i got red lighted on 2 technicalities and failed my last deadlift attempt. I got;

Squat 140/150/160kg, got red lighted on 160 for racking too early since the judge decided to hold the rack command for a really long time after he tried to red light me for almost racking too early on my 2nd but the other 2 were whites.

Bench 90/95/100kg, got red lighted on the 100kg for lifting my head slightly off the bench, it was pretty funny though because i realized when it happened and tried to really slowly put my head back down hoping they wouldn't notice lol. Aced the 100kg though, really happy i've finally broken that barrier.

Deadlift 150/165/175kg, got 1st and second clean but tried to overshoot the third, really wanted a 420kg total because that's the requirement for nationals at 74kg. Still a 5kg PR on the dead and i would've been happy with matching my previous 160kg. 

Total - 410kg/903lb

Unofficial total - 425kg/937lb 

At 73.5kg/162lb

Hoping to close in on the 1000lb at my next meet hopefully in 2-3 months.

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## Khazima

Sitting at around 74.3kg right now, planning on bulking up to 80kg within the next 2.5-3 months since this is when my whole family is going away for 6 weeks and it'll be super easy to diet. Going to attack the cut pretty aggressively aiming for at least 1kg a week. Although i'll probably maintain for a while and lower the calories a little first to say 3000 so i can have more room to play. Then on the first week i'll take 200 calories and add a cardio session, the next week i'll add another cardio session and take another 100 calories then go from there. The first and last 2 weeks i'll be taking the albuterol (that i suspect is clen ) that i still have leftover. 

So i haven't been logging much, just haven't been that motivated to log and my posts have been rather short so i've just decided to log less with general updates and some breakdowns of my training, once i'm dieting back down i'll probably go back to logging daily for progression purposes. 

I'm doing smolov Jr and a basic 5x5 + 3x3 for squats now, decided to see if i can go back to basic linear progression and make gains that way while i'm in a surplus and further education myself about programming. So this week has been;

*Monday*
Bench press - 6 x 6 w/65kg
Pull-ups - 5 x 8-10

*Tuesday*
Squat - 5 x 5 w/120kg
Deadlift - 3 x 5 w/120kg

*Wednesday*
Bench press - 7 x 5 w/70kg
Pull-ups - 3 x 10
Cable row - 2 x 12-15
Alternating bicep curl - 2 x 10-12
Incline curl - 3 x 10-12
Lateral raises - 2 x 12-15

*Thursday (Today)*
Bent-over row - 4 x 10-20
Bench press - 8 x 4 w/75kg
OHP - 2 x 3 w/60kg
Seated bicep curl - 3 x 12-20
Facepulls - 3 x 12-15
Rear delt fly - 2 x 10-12
Calf raise - 4 x 12-15

So as you can see smolov is really frequent when it comes to bench but overall volume is probably about the same, around 30 sets for pressing total, per week. Usually i'd do 2-3 bench sessions per week with 10-15 sets of pressing in total (including chest/shoulders/triceps) and now it's just bench, hardly any accessories for pressing except for a small amount of shoulder work since i want to keep my shoulders as healthy and flexible as possible.

The start of the week was the 5x5 for squats and 3x5 for deadlifts then later in the week is a 3x3 for squats on the final bench day. I feel this is about as much volume as my knees can handle, if i can handle more at a later time i'll probably add another day on one of the bench days for speed/power or some extra leg work. We'll see.

Can't wait to start tapering for the mock meet and see what gains i can manage to manifest in such a short period of time!

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## RaginCajun

Congrats on the meet!

When I powerlifted in college, I hated that beep!

Looks like you have everything planned out, just execute it!

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## Khazima

> Congrats on the meet!
> 
> When I powerlifted in college, I hated that beep!
> 
> Looks like you have everything planned out, just execute it!


Thanks brother!

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## Khazima

Had a club meet today, was a lot of fun and good practice for the future if two meets i want to do are close to each other. I ended out hitting;

Squat - 162.5kg (358lb) Easily
Bench - 105kg (231lb) Complete grind
Deadlift - 165kg (364lb) Easily

@ 74.3kg (164lb) Morning weight

I should've got at least a 170kg (375lb) deadlift but i took a conservative jump for my second attempt when i should've gone for the 170 and passed on my third. 

The 162.5kg squat was super easy since i decided to leave it in the tank since i really wanted the 105 bench and 170 deadlift, i feel i could've got 165-167.5 if i went all out on my third. 

I expected the 105 bench to be a lot easier but it ended out being a really bad grind and surprisingly took a large toll on me which normally isn't the case with my bench.

Deadlifts went amazingly, 165 flew up extremely easy but i think it just took a little too much out of me for the 170. 

432.5kg (953lb) total, 310 wilks score, 22.5kg improvement on my official total, 7.5kg improvement on my lifts. 

Really going to be focusing on my deadlift for now, my squat goes up without a worry in the world and my bench makes steady progress also, so i need to improve this poverty deadlift.

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## Khazima

Today was the first day of the coan/phillipi deadlift routine and damn it was a lot more grueling than what i was expecting. I'm sort of sick but not deathly ill and i really really felt like deadlifting today so i went to the gym and hit it anyway. Once i got warmed up i realized it would've been ideal to stay home. So if i don't feel significantly better tomorrow (significantly better would basically mean i'm perfectly fine, cause it's not that bad right now) then i'll just take the days off as needed. So the routine was;

Deadlift (75%): 1x2 @ 135 kg 
Speed deadlift (60%): 8x3 @ 107.5 kg (90 sec rest b/w sets)
3 circuits (rest 90sec between exercises, 2-3 minutes between circuits):
Stiff-leg deadlift: 8 reps
Bent over row: 8 reps
Underhand (reverse) grip lat pulldown: 8 reps
Arched back good morning: 8 reps

So the actual deadlifting was quite easy with really low intensity but it was a workout trying to pull as quickly as possible, so i was still somewhat fatigued by the time i had to do the circuit. The circuit is just brutal, stiff leg deadlifts torch my lower back, then holding a heavy weight bent over for another 8 reps, reverse lat pulldown is a nice break and then straight back to torching the lower back. 

It was my first time actually doing good mornings so i went relatively light on those, but now i know what i'm doing more or less i'll start to add some weight. 

It's a really fun workout in the end though, a lot harder to do than it looks on paper as well. 

Tomorrows bench if i'm recovered, more or less a heavy push day.

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## davidtheman100

Great stuff man good to see you so motivated!!

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## Khazima

> Great stuff man good to see you so motivated!!


Thanks brother!

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## GirlyGymRat

I made a change to my routine and noticing s huge diff in my soreness. I think it's good to switch it up!

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