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

Well all this sitting around has been driving me insane so I decided to do some ab work after my foam rolling and shoulder stretches.

Decided to just see how many sit-ups I could do at one go, managed to get 119 before absolute failure.

Then did 3x20 weighted sit-ups with 20kg weight. I was doing this at home so didn't have access to any olympic size plates like I normally use, so had to make do holding a 20kg dumbbell, a bit akward but did the job!



I like how my midsection actually looks somewhat respectable after a good ab workout. Still a hell of a long way to go though! Damn I can't wait to cut!

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

mrx eire


having the same problems with my shoulders ffs, i stop training them for a while and just back now but same problem , i see you took fish oil for these ,i might give them a try myself , what sort of food are u eating to consume 3500 cals ,

Yep Fish Oils are great. They're more of a general, all round health supplement. They have a whole range of purported health benefits, one of which is their anti-inflammatory qualities, which my knees and shoulders really miss when I don't take them. I also recommend Green tea, same deal.

Is it a rotator cuff issue that you have too? I've found that doing isolation exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles has helped me a lot. For example, Lateral Raises to strengthen the Supraspinatus (muscle at the top of your rotator cuff), External Rotations to strengthen the Infraspinatus and Teres Minor (muscles at the bottom of your rotator cuff) and Internal Rotations to strengthen the Subscapularis (muscle at the back/centre of your rotator cuff). That plus doing looooaadddds of dynamic stretching before and after workouts.

The rotator cuff gets injured in different ways for different people, it seems mine is caused by heavy Benching and Incline Benching, which is a sign of a weak Infraspinatus. If you get shoulder pain from overhead pressing in your shoulder workouts then it is probably your Supraspinatus that is causing the issue, as this is the muscle which is used to raise your arms up and down (as far as I know!). If the pain persists though mate, I'd highly recommend seeing a physio to get it sorted out!

Regarding food, my diet usually looks something like this:

2x Whey w/ 50g Oats
Meal 1: 100g Muesli w/ 250ml milk
Meal 2: Tin tuna, 100g pasta, 100g tomato sauce, 20g cheddar cheese, veg
Pint milk
Meal 3: Tin tuna, 100g pasta, 100g tomato sauce, 20g cheddar cheese, veg
Meal 4: Chicken breast, 100g pasta, 100g tomato sauce, veg
2xWhey
6x 1000mg Fish Oils

With at least two pieces of fruit thrown in there throughout the day.

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

End of day totals:

Calories: 3216.49
Protein: 272.3g
Carbs: 415.7g
Fat: 51.61g

Ridiculously low fat today! Not quite sure how I managed that

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

good amount of sit ups there mate, dont think ill be able to do that many for a while. the DOMS are insane, my chest, shoulders and tris are fcuked from monday and my back, traps and bis are fcuked from yesturday lol. good to hear your shoulder good to go, lets hope the other one aint fcuked now though.

BTW as soon as you start your cut your going to be dying to get back on the bulk lol

Cuts are crap ;) perma bulks are where its at!

thats alot of sit ups bro, i think i probably would have deficated after about 50 lol

Haha yeah. I know doing as many sit-ups as you can is in no way conducive to building abdominal mass or strength, but sometimes I just like to test myself! It like lifting for any muscle I guess, I want to know that I'm gaining strength, and when I started out 6 months ago I was only able to do 14 sit-ups before absolute failure, so I must be doing something right haha! Although Patrick Bateman can do 1000....lol.

Anyway, shoulders feeling fine, but my right one is annoying me a bit still, probably from sleeping on it so much again. I'm going to have to learn to sleep on my back or my stomach I think!

I'm seriously getting withdrawal symptoms from the gym at the moment, next session will be Sunday I reckon. This will be pull day, which doesn't really aggravate my rotator cuff at all, then Legs on Tuesday, which leaves me another 6 days from today until I will be benching again on Thursday, ample time for my shoulder to rest until then.

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

End of day totals:

Calories: 3512.82
Protein: 264.8g
Carbs: 370g
Fat: 108.18g

Slightly messy today, missed a meal due to very hectic day in college and only got home late, so tried to make up the cals with an absolute whopper sandwich with 100g peanut butter, hence why my total fats are so high.

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

Currently watching Any Given Sunday, Steamin' Willie Beamen doesn't have a bad physique!

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

Yet another day off, this is just getting silly. Gym tomorrow though I reckon my shoulder will be pretty much back to 100% then.

In the meantime its another day of eating and watching the Tri-Nations, should be good! Going to pick up some more Ibuprofen as well today just to make sure the inflammation stays away for good.

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

I wish the Springboks would fcuk off and stop winning!

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

Good luck mate.

Theres nobody better as a role model than Bateman.

Do you crunch? He can do a thousand now.

"I believe in taking care of myself" - Patrick Bateman
  
Journal

Of course I crunch, I even do it naked with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre blaring in the background!

Lol, nah I don't really bother with crunches anymore I just prefer sit-ups for some reason!

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

End of day totals:

Calories: 4238.74
Protein: 277.45g
Carbs: 482.85g
Fat: 133.06g

Lmfao! Basically, had a bit of a junk food binge today. Well it wasn't that bad, I ate 3 really good meals, but I also helped myself to an ENTIRE BOX of Cadbury's Heroes that I found in my kitchen. Hence why I'm about 900 calories over my target and nearly double my target for fat. It's my first time in months screwing up my diet though so I'm not bothered.

Oh also realised today marks exactly 6 months since I started training. Boom

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

cracking nutritional total there pal, beastly way to celebrate your 6 month aniversary lol. only messing up once in 6 months is class, i pretty much mess up once a week.

in the book bateman can do 2000 sit ups, thought i should point that out. also i used to listen to the texas chainsaw massacre while training but now i prefer snuff films more hardcore.

PATRICK BATEMAN FREAKIN RULES!!! i reckon us three should have a competition who can get to his body first?

Pull

Deadlift - 100kg - 10, 10, 6

BB Bent Over Rows - 50kg - 14 (+ 4), 14 (+ 4), 12 (+ 2)

Wide-Grip Cable Pulldowns - (setting 13 of 20) - 10, 10, 10 (+ 1)

EZ Bar Curls - 30kg - 14 (+ 4), 14 (+ 4), 11 (+ 1)

Hammer Curls - 12kg each - 14, 14, 14

30 mins cardio + abs

Decided to up the weight for the Deads by 10kg from last week for some reason, and was surprised at how many reps I was able to bang out! Felt deadly to be pulling two plates each side for reps!

For the BB Rows and EZ Curls, I upped the rep range from 3x10 to 3x14 this week, and I will keep this from now on.

Shoulder feels fine, the only exercise that aggravated it slightly was the pulldowns, but some good stretching took care of that and it feels grand now. I omitted the Shrugs from my workout today for obvious reasons.

jebus - That is a bloody good idea! I reckon Red_Alert is winning at this stage, he's lean as fcuk so with a bit more mass added on he'll look great I'd say. Having said that I haven't seen any pics of your physique yet!

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

End of day totals:

Calories: 3472.35
Protein: 302.3g
Carbs: 349g
Fat: 96.35g

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

yeh if Red_Alert got a bit more mass he'd basically be bateman lol.

why 3x14 reps? is it to make sure your shoulders fully healed before going heavy again? im gonna be sticking with 3x8reps, works well for me.

i think ill start a journal in september after my resits and hopefully join a gym aswell so i can get my PB's done then track my progress until around May. thinking of finishing my bulk with a cycle aswell, maybe hdrol, pmag, epi or 1-T as its non-methylated. im hoping for atleast 1st7lbs over my bulk tbh.
 
PS i had massive egg and mayo sandwiches today, six eggs, 4 tablespoons of mayo and six pieces of bread. cracking supper

Yeah I decided to go for 3x14 for the Rows instead of increasing weight because I thought it would be better on my shoulder, and also just because of the whole high reps/hypertrophy thing. And for the Curls I just thought I was hitting my biceps hard with heavy weight and low(ish) reps from Deads and Pulldowns, so there'd be no harm in changing to a higher rep range for the isolation, just to mix things up a bit.

My lower back is killing me today though after those deads, admittedly I sacrificed form on the last rep or two. Next session I reckon I'll wear my belt and it should be fine!

Good call on starting a journal, they're a pretty good way to keep track of your progress. And I would also highly recommend joining a gym, I trained at home for the first month because I was reluctant to join a gym, but then when I did join I was kicking myself that I hadn't joined sooner! Your current goals are similar enough to mine, I reckon I'm going to keep bulking until Feb (which will mean I'll have had a full year of solid bulking) and then go on a cut, and I reckon I'm going to finish off my bulk with some sort of cycle as well. I was looking at Epi, seems to be the DS of choice for the newbie! Assuming you're a newbie, would this be your first cycle yes?

That sounds like one epic sandwich combo btw!

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

im just waiting for my mate to get some cash them we're gonna join the gym, hopefully in september. yeh our goals are similar, im thinking of bulking until march now so i can cut for three months to june then maintain through to september and start again. im 13st7lbs now so 15st is my bulk target and then 14st @ <15% BF is my cut traget.

yeh it'll be my first cycle aswell, unsure what compound i want to use mind, a good non-methyl (like 1-T/1-T Tren) would be great, but hdrol, pmag and epi seem to be awsome first cycles. test enthantate @ 500mg for 10 weeks is another option, a lot of my friends are on test/deca/HGH cycle atm.

gonna be doing my push workout later and will be increasing the weights as last week, even though i had major DOMS, i felt like i had more in me while lifting tbh.

End of day totals:

Calories: 3306.84
Protein: 258.6g
Carbs: 387.75g
Fat: 80.16g

On another note, my back is absolutely killing me. I'm pretty sure it's only doms, because although I can hardly move, it's a good kind of pain! Presumably from taking that week off. Also I am thinking about dropping Shrugs from my routine, because I didn't do them yesterday but my traps are still absolutely obliterated with doms today, so there is no question that they are getting a good workout from the rows and pulldowns etc alone.

jebus - Yep I had considered doing a test cycle as well, except I'm naturally a bit anxious about using needles. I'm not scared of needles or anything, I'd be more scared of not sterilising one properly and giving myself some sort of infection, or accidentally hitting a vein, stuff like that. Good luck with the push workout dude, definitely up the weights, I find the best way to go up in weight is to do just that: go up in weight. The first session you do it your reps will be down naturally, but IME within the next session or two you will be back hitting close to your target reps for that weight. Kinda like diving in at the deep end.

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

Legs & Shoulders

Note: Still under advice of physio to avoid specific quad and hammy work so this was another shoulder dominant session. I should however be back to squatting next week.

DB Shoulder Press - 22kg each - 10, 10 (+1), 8
Arnold Press - 18kg each - 8 (+1), 7 (+1), 6
Clean and Press - 40kg - 10, 10, 8
Calf Raise (Smith) - 70kg - 14, 14, 14

RC Work + Cardio

Good session all round, can't wait to get back to squatting though! PS. I absolutely love the clean and press.

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

good work mate, keep it up
 
Joe

http://www.ugm.org.uk/

the tren of forums
 

Cheers man!

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

End of day totals:

Calories: 3402.24
Protein: 272.25g
Carbs: 411g
Fat: 74.36g

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

yeh i know what you meen about needles it would be a bit daunting at first, but if ive hit my target by march i may do hdrol/epi for some lean gains, if i havent ill do something stronger.

i had a good push session on monday did 70kg for 3x8 on Bench Press, think ill stick to it for next week then increase the weight again. im thinking 100kg 1RM should be possible. my BB Incline Press aint so good but if i had a spotter id be able to put it back easier.

how have you found the Arnold Press mate? when ever ive done any sort of DB press it hurts my left shoulder, so i just stick to BB press and lat raises.

jebus

how have you found the Arnold Press mate? when ever ive done any sort of DB press it hurts my left shoulder, so i just stick to BB press and lat raises.

This.
 
Lol, it's a good exercise and I enjoy it, but I'm considering dropping it from my routine because I think it tends to hurt my shoulders quite badly. My right shoulder in particular is a bit niggly right now. Regular DB Shoulder Press is fine, but its just the twisting motion in the Arnold Press I think that really doesn't agree with an already weakened rotator cuff, ya know?

Good man on the Push day, I'm doing my next on Friday. Gonna just see if I can bang out a nice easy 3x8 with 75kg and then move up weight next week, I would move up to 77.5kg on Fri but it prob would be better to easy back into it after that week off.

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

Great journal, just realised I'd never dropped a comment in before.

Back on the Case....

Aaarrrgghhh why are my shoulders so SH1T??! My right one has gotten considerably more painful now, but it's not the same as the left. It hurts when I raise it upwards, as when I do any movement that resembles the front raise exercise. I know its from doing cable front raises yesterday, so not gonna be doing those anymore. It also means I won't be able to do any Fascist salutes for a while, damn.....


Stevie74 - Hey man, cheers for popping by! Feel free to comment any time!

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

End of day totals:

Calories: 3176.43
Protein: 245.3g
Carbs: 330.6g
Fat: 95.87g

Too much fat, not enough carbs. Diet was sh1te today anyway, I had horrible cramps in my stomach half the day for some reason which really wasn't conducive to proper eating. So missed a meal or two during the day, tried to make up the cals with an extra whey shake with oats and some dextrose afterwards (couldn't get any more solid food into me!)

Also the pain in my right shoulder is still there, and I have decided to re-think my routine because of it. I reckon it's probably the volume of the shoulder workouts I've been doing the last two weeks that have caused the return of the pain rather than specific exercises. So I've decided to cut my shoulder workouts right down to the bare minimum, and do nothing except Shoulder Press. Seeing as I'm only doing one exercise for shoulders then, I am considering just doing it on push day rather than with legs, like a standard p/p/l. The main reason for this is that my shoulder seems to be sore both after Push day because of the heavy pressing movements, and after Shoulders/Legs day because of the shoulder work obviously. So if I did both of these on the same day it would give my rotator cuff an extra couple of days a week to rest before I train it again.

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

Your dieting is good buddy, i wish i had the dedication to really keep track of the macronutrients i was taking in :P

fcuk you dont have much luck with shoulders do u mind. mate that diet aint bad at all, mine currently consists of ~ 3850kcals, 225g protein, 400g carbs and 150g fat so its a very dirty bulk lol. ive gotta catch upto my mates though, one of them is over 16st ffs.
i did my pull workout yesturday before i went out to look pumped lol. had hell of night out, basically drank every spirit at least twice with diamond white and foster mixed in there aswell, i was literally obliterated lol. some guy started on me aswell so i hit him, went to hit him again and his mate knocked me clean out , but i was fine after a while even though my face and head is killing today lol.

shouldnt admit to drinking diamond white :P

my mental image of you now consists of a burberry cap, ecko tracksuit and reebok classics :P

End of day totals:

Calories: 3531
Protein: 278.85g
Carbs: 436.5
Fat: 74.41g

Sounds like a bloody good night jebus! As soon as I finish my thesis (in a week and a half) I'm going to go do something similar

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

keeprollin


shouldnt admit to drinking diamond white :P

my mental image of you now consists of a burberry cap, ecko tracksuit and reebok classics :P

 
DAMN RIGHT, nah im joking im more a skater dude, drunkn munky, and all the surfy stuff for me, baggy jeans are a must with a big white belt, toped off with a nice pair of converse . just checked the photos on facebook, hmmmm embarrasing would be a massive understatement lol.
 
CitizenKane i got another one on saturday night but after that i will have zero pennies, so no more for a while.

 

Push

Bench Press - 75kg - 8, 8, 8
Incline DB Press - 26kg each (+2kg) - 10, 7, 8
Skull Crushers - 30kg - 10, 8, 7
Cable Pushdowns - Setting 12 of 15 - 14, 13 (-1), 10 (-4)

30 Mins cardio + abs

Dropped the Decline DB today, which explains why I was able to move up to 26s for the Incline with relative ease. Also included Skull crushers, which obviously nackered my tri's for the Pushdowns. This was sort of a prototypical push routine today, as next time I will be including Shoulder press, probably to the detriment of the skull crushers. Shoulder feels fine surprsingly.

EDIT: The flat bench was way too easy, but I kept it at that weight just to try and ease back into it after that week and a bit off and for the sake of my rotator cuff. I will increase this next week, but I will probably just increase the rep range to 3x10 rather than moving up in weight at this stage. When I can hit 3x10 with 75kg then I'll move up to 77.5kg

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

Sounding good mate, cant beat a nice set of strict cable crossovers though

I wouldn't know because my gym only has one cable machine so I can't do crossovers! It's a pity too because I've pretty much had to drop Flys from my Push routine as well because of the strain they put on my rotator cuff, would've been nice to be able to replace them with crossovers but what can you do!

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

As if! Let down eh lol.

Gutting to hear your having so much shoulder trouble and having to drop things, I know how you feel with my lower back and all, its such a twat.

People who don't exercise should get the niggles, us lot who want to improve things should get a free pass on all this ****!

Back on the Case....