CK's Journal - Mixing it up to confuse my muscles and shock them into growth

That's the main thing then Horses for courses.

CitizenKane


Howya, normally I just do ~30 mins low intensity steady state on a bike or cross trainer. I tend to avoid running on account of my sh1t knees!

Bad knee too. Just bought a mountain bike for my cardio, enjoyi ng it! Low intensity is the sh1t!

BroodingSea's 4-week 1T-Tren Cycle

Push

DB Press
32kg x 10
32kg x 10
32kg x 10

Incline DB Press (Incline Bench had a big queue to use it)
26kg x 10
26kg x 9
26kg x 8

DB Shoulder Press
18kg x 10 (+3)
18kg x 9 (+3)
18kg x 7 (+2)

Flyes
12kg x 10
12kg x 10
12kg x 10

Tri Pushdowns
140lb x 9 (-1)
140lb x 10 (+1)
140lb x 8

Excellent workout, very happy with it.

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

BroodingSea

CitizenKane


Howya, normally I just do ~30 mins low intensity steady state on a bike or cross trainer. I tend to avoid running on account of my sh1t knees!

Bad knee too. Just bought a mountain bike for my cardio, enjoyi ng it! Low intensity is the sh1t!

Yep it sucks having bad knees but I reckon cycling is prob the most knee-friendly type of cardio, next to swimming of course! How do you find squatting and other leg work?

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Every so often I like to use this journal for other reasons than just logging workouts and diet, like sometimes I throw in pics of physiques that inspire me or clips of songs that get me motivated, etc. On that note, here is an interesting quote I came across on this very board. It's from a member called Redder who got pissed off with me when I tried to give him some advice.

Redder

For someone with zero arms and cant lift S H I T don't go spouting.
Look of your July pictures I'd give up if I were you, you have terrible genetics. Stick to the guitar matey boy.

Keep up the good work Redder, you've inspired me.

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Pull

Deadlift
100kg x 10
100kg x 10
100kg x 10

DB Bent-Over Rows
34kg x 10
34kg x 10
34kg x 10

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
130lb x 10
130lb x 10
130lb x 10


EZ Curls
32kg x 10
32kg x 10
32kg x 9

Supersetted with:

Alternate DB Curls
16kg x 8
14kg x 8
14kg x7

45 mins cardio + abs. Watched the second half of the manchester derby while doing cardio, the whole cardio area doing the same thing and going crazy any time there was a goal, fcuking great laugh!

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Hahah, i just read that topic with "Redder". What a c0ck.

Aside from that, stick another 5kg on ya dead's

Yep I'm gonna ramp my deads up to 105kg next session, just was concentrating on getting my form absolutely perfect before I did!

Legs

Squat
70kg x 10
70kg x 10
70kg x 10

Front Squat
40kg x 10
40kg x 10
40kg x 10 (+3)

Standing Calf Raise (Smith)
90kg x 10
90kg x 10
90kg x 10

Leg Extensions
140lb x 10
140lb x 10
140lb x 10

Leg Curls
140lb x 10
140lb x 10
140lb x 10

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Push

DB Press
32kg x 10
32kg x 10
32kg x 10

Incline DB Press (+2kg)
28kg x 10
28kg x 7
28kg x 6

DB Shoulder Press
18kg x 10
18kg x 7 (-2)
18kg x 6 (-1)

Flyes
12kg x 10
12kg x 10
12kg x 10

Tricep Pushdowns
140lb x 9 (-1)
140lb x 8 (-2)
140lb x 7 (-1)

Tri pushdowns and Shoulder press both down from last week, but I can attribute that to the fact that I moved up in weight on the Incline DBs and this seemed to absolutely annihilate my triceps. Can't complain really, not a bad workout

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Long story short: Im going away tomorrow for a massive weekend-long pissup so I'll be out of action gym-wise for the next 4 days, and even though I've been in the gym the last 2 days in a row, I still wanted to get a quick Pull session in before I went away. But seeing as I only trained legs 2 days ago, my glutes and hammys were nowhere near recovered enough to do Deads, so I omitted them today.

Pull

DB Bent-Over Rows
34kg x 10
34kg x 10
34kg x 10

Lat Pulldowns (+10lb)
140lb x 10
140lb x 10
140lb x 7

Seated Cable Rows (for the laugh)
120lb x 10
120lb x 10
120lb x 9

EZ Curls
32kg x 10
32kg x 8
32kg x 7

Suppersetted with:

Alternate DB Curls
14kg x 10
14kg x 6
14kg x 4

Incline DB Curls (needed to feel the pump..)
12kg x 8
8kg x 14
8kg x 14
8kg x 13


Pretty good session. Nothing else to report really, I'm going to up my cal intake by a couple of hundred for today and tomorrow to hopefully make up a bit for the lack of rest between sessions this week.

Oh one more thing, I wore my Canterbury long-sleeve rugby top thing to the gym today and it made me look ridiculously buff. I recommend it to anybody who needs a quick ego boost in the gym, lol.

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Couldn't pull off that top mate, especially with my lovehandles!!!

Jimbo

Formerly 'lil_jimmy'

Cold in your gym ?

JimRat - Oh I'm sure I have bigger love handles than you do! That top somehow covers them up though it's great! Ps. your username is my nickname in real life, my mates call me that cos it's an amalgamation of my first and last name and also a pun on 'gym rat'!

Owen - No, but it gets substantially smaller when I walk into it.... Lol!

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

.

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

CitizenKane



I'm not sure how much size I've actually put on since the July pics at the start of this journal, I've gained around 4kg since then but in some of these new pics I actually seem to look leaner somehow! Definitely made progress on the back and delts though I think. Arms as well maybe. I find it kinda hard to judge when I'm looking at pics of myself to be honest! Let me know what you guys think!

This is my favourite

looking better then in your original pictures, I will do proper comparisions shortly

End of Cycle Review+Pictures

*Plyoathlete Crew*
*Muay Thai Crew*

Looking very very good mate, quite lean and muscle defo coming through now, shifting heavy weights too, with continuous progression, keep up the good work my man!

Muscle Finesse & Maximuscle Board Rep

Cheers lads, very encouraging words!

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

well done pal, good progress and think uve got another year left yet right?.. havent posted for a while but looks like your strength has really come on, done anymore 1RM lately? im doing a 5x5 routine now and my strength has rocketed these last few weeks, my deadlift for 5x5 is 120kg but my mates barbell is bending to much so we're gonna have to get a new one (makes me happy when i think of that lol)... im also thinking of starting H-Drol soon and maybe try and get in a Epi and SD cycle before summer, we'll see

Def looking better in comparison to your old pics, esp good shape to your chest. Bet the tan also helps!

Jimbo

Formerly 'lil_jimmy'

Cheers for the feedback guys!

Jebus - do you mean I have another year left of bulking? If so, then no I'm only going to bulk until Feb and then cut down probably! Sounds like your strength is up too, well done. I haven't done any 1RMs lately at all no, really haven't been bothered with strength just focusing on hypertrophy! I'm also thinking about doing a cycle soon, possibly after xmas. I was going to go for something like Epi or Hdrol but to be honest I'm also considering just going straight for some test... We'll see...

Push

DB Press
32kg x 10
32kg x 10
32kg x 10

Incline Bench Press (Smith)
70kg x 10
70kg x 9
70kg x 8

DB Seated Shoulder Press
18kg x 9 (-1)
18kg x 8 (+1)
18kg x 7 (+1)

Pec Deck
130lb x 10
140lb x 10
140lb x 10

Tri Pushdowns
140lb x 8 (-1)
140lb x 8
140lb x 8 (+1)

Notes: Again somewhat of a messy workout. Basically, there was too long a queue for the normal Incline bench so I decided to use the Smith. This was good, felt a great burn and 70kg seems like the right weight at the moment. I will continue doing this for the next while I reckon.

About the DB Press, I realise that I have been getting full sets of 10 for the last couple of workouts and that I should really move up in weight, but given my dodgy rotator cuff and the pressure that holding such heavy DBs puts on my shoulder, I think I will give it another week or so before I move up to the 34's.

Also there was a queue to use the usual DBs that I use for Flyes, so I decided to give the Pec Deck a go instead. Conclusion: Pec Deck is gay. So so gay. Didn't really feel much of a stretch in my pecs but more importantly it is such an unnatural angle, my shoulders felt pretty sore after using it! Stick to the Flyes in future...

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Nice improvement on the pics

The description of the pec dec is correct.

Here is a pic of my desired physique. Long term goal (2 years perhaps):



I reckon I'm pretty close already....

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Just finished off a tub of Green Magnitude creatine. I started it straight after I finished a tub of Gaspari SizeOn, so if I was to compare one to the other I'd have to say that I noticed effects quicker with the SizeOn, but obviously I had better gains while using Green Mag for the simple reason that I was using it for 80 days and the SizeOn for only 30 days, and you will make better gains over 80 days than you will over 30 days regardless of what creatine you're using! The only complaint I'd have about the Green Mag is that it tastes absolutely disgusting. It was ok for the first week or two, but ever since then it has been an absolute chore trying to get the stuff down my throat. So SizeOn definitely wins the taste competition! In terms of price/value for money, however, Green Mag wins out by a country mile.

As for what product to use next, I have two massive tubs of creatine mono with dextrose (Optimum Nutrition) that I got for free from my supp guy, which should last me for a few months at least! It also tastes amazing (being Optimum Nutrition), fruit punch flavour, it's unreal!

In other news, I haven't been to the gym since Monday because I've been up to my eyes this week: I'm working nights (well, evenings really) at this new promotions job which is fine but this week my parents happened to need a lot of help moving office so I've been spending most days lifting boxes around, lot's of fun! Pull day tomorrow though

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Nice review mate. What flavour of green mag did you get, both are nice imo, i found size on was a chore to down after 2 or so weeks but had no problems at all with green mag. With size on you need a good 700ml liquid while with green mag you only need 250/300ml i think, so thats prob why.

Muscle Finesse & Maximuscle Board Rep

Hey up man, nice to see how well you've been doing, great progress :-)

Back on the Case....

Cheers for the feedback Stevie, things are going well thanks, hope your training is going well too!

Iceman - I used the Lemon flavour. I thought it was rotten! Having said that I generally hate anything lemon flavoured! What other flavour of Green Mag is there??

Pull

Deadlift
100kg x 10
105kg x 10 (+5kg)
105kg x 8

DB Bent-Over Rows
36kg x 10 (+2kg)
36kg x 10
36kg x 9

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
140lb x 10
140lb x 8 (-2)
140lb x 7

EZ Curls
30kg x 10 (-2kg)
30kg x 8
30kg x 8

Good old session. Went up in weight on the Deads and the Rows, which meant I was down on reps in the Pulldowns and Curls. Regardless, it was a fantastic workout. After the Pulldowns I felt the biggest pump in my biceps that I've ever had, even before I did any curls. My only concern is that my grip seems to be failing a bit on the Deads and the Rows, so I might go out and buy some chalk or something to help with this, I don't really want to use straps because this would surely hinder forearm development from these exercises.

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Push

DB Bench Press
34kg x 8 (+2kg)
34kg x 6
34kg x 5

Incline Bench
60kg x 9 (+5kg)
60kg x 5
60kg x 5

DB Shoulder Press
18kg x 8 (-1)
18kg x 6 (-2)
18kg x 6 (-1)

DB Front Raises
9kg x 10
9kg x 10
9kg x 10

Flyes
12kg x 10
12kg x 10
12kg x 8

Tri Pushdowns
140lb x 10 (+2)
140lb x 8
140lb x 8

Good session. Worked out with a mate and he pushed me to go up in weight on the Bench, so I did. Low-ish reps on the DB Press and the Incline, but I don't mind, after a couple more sessions I should be hitting the 8-10 rep range

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Pull

Deadlift
102.5kg x 10 (-2.5kg)
102.5kg x 10
102.5kg x 9

DB Rows
36kg x 10
36kg x 10
36kg x 10 (+1)

Pulldowns
140lb x 10
140lb x 9 (+1)
140lb x 8 (+1)

EZ Curls
27kg x 10
27kg x 8
27kg x 10

Decided to bring the weight down by 2.5kg from last week just to perfect my form and also because I've stopped using a Belt. Good session all round

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Nice lifts with sound progression matey :D

Muscle Finesse & Maximuscle Board Rep

Cheers mate good to see you popping in!

Push

DB Press
34kg x 9 (+2)
34kg x 6
34kg x 5

Incline DB (incline bench had too long a queue)
28kg x 9
28kg x 7
28kg x 6

Military Press
40kg x 10
40kg x 6
40kg x 6

Flyes
12kg x 10
12kg x 10
12kg x 10

Tricep Pushdowns
140lb x 10
140lb x 7 (-1)
140lb x 6 (-2)

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Good job on the dbell presses mate. What happened the tri pushdowns bud lol?

Muscle Finesse & Maximuscle Board Rep

Hah dunno mate tbh, I reckon it was prob cos I switched to Military press with a bar instead of DB shoulder press and the weight I was using was slightly heavier so it fatigued my tri's more? Who knows really!

Also I got an extra rep on each set of that DB Press but I didn't count it because it was slightly assisted by my mate (ie. I actually got 10 reps on the first set except on the tenth rep my mate assisted me up a bit), prob being harsh on myself not counting them but whatever!

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Pull

Deadlift
60kg x 10
102.5kg x 10
102.5kg x 10
140kg x 1 (PB)

DB Rows
36kg x 10
36kg x 10
36kg x 10

Pulldowns
140lb x 10
140lb x 10 (+1)
140lb x 10 (+2)

EZ Curls
27kg - 15s
27kg x 10
27kg x 10
27kg x 9

Note on the Deadlift PB: Really happy to pull 140, it felt cool getting 3 plates each side off the ground! On top of that I definitely think I could've gotten more for the following reasons:

-I wasn't using a belt
-I wasn't using any straps or even chalk, it was completely raw
-I didn't warm up to it properly, I just did 3 sets of 10 and then went for the 1RM as a sort of spur of the moment thing egged on by my mate.

So overall, very happy

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Well done on the PB mate, very impressive. Nice progression on other lifts too.

Muscle Finesse & Maximuscle Board Rep

Nice PB mate 4 plates a side soon!

Congrats on the deadlift matey

Journal

Cheers lads!

I was just having a think about my goals. I always said that I was just going to keep bulking til Feb or March 2010, but now I've decided to set myself strength goals as well. So basically I am going to keep bulking until I hit these strength goals, which I am guessing will more or less coincide with Feb or March anyway.

Goals for early 2010

DB Press - Get the 40kg DB's up for reps

Deadlift - Pull 180

Front Squat - 60kg for reps

I think all of these are fairly doable. I've got the 34's up comfortably for reps at the moment on the DB Press, and I'm Front Squatting 40kg AFTER my Back Squats, so these two shouldn't be too difficult. The Deadlift will be harder, but if I look at my progress so far: I only started Deadlifting around May, and so in 5 months I've gotten my max up to 140, so if my progress increases exponentially (depending how long these newbie gains plan on lasting), I have another 5/6 months to add 40kg to it.

Light weight baby!

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.

Its good to set goals mate, good goals too, imagine a 180 dead!

Muscle Finesse & Maximuscle Board Rep

I'd say it's well doable mate! What's your max dead mate?

JOURNAL
 
I'm tougher than leather, I'm smoother than suede,
Always never broke 'cos I'm usually paid.