# dj920's log



## dj920 (Mar 4, 2013)

Hey all.  Still relatively new here.  Since it is a lifting forum, I thought a log would be the best way to introduce myself properly.

*Current Goals:* Have only ever focused on strength and numbers before, and been pretty happy with progressive gains in my lifts over time (when I was sticking with a consistent program).  Lately though, I've been getting frustrated by seeing guys who lift a lot less weight being a lot bigger, and want to try out the whole hypertrophy thing for a couple months to see what happens.  Shorter rests, higher reps, more frequent workouts, higher overall volume, more accessory / small muscle group work, that kind of thing.  So I designed myself a mesocycle (below), and this is my log.

*Basic Stats (3/3/13):*  ~30yo, 6'1", 190lbs, lifting on and off for about 6 years.

*Lifting History:*  2 years with a strength trainer at a local gym chain, mixed results; 1 year starting strength; 2 years slacking (school/work), doing 3x/week; 6 mos Crossfit, was unproductive; 6 mos: Texas method, Pretty good results.  Middle 14 weeks of this were on cycle (first cycle, details below).

*Diet:* My maintenance right now seems to be around 2700kcal/day, so I aim for 3200.  Breakdown is 45% protein, 35% carbs, 20% fats.  Have done cyclical keto in the past -- I have good diet discipline, no problem keeping crabs < 40g/day.  Bf%/water retention always goes down pretty rapidly, usually lose 10-12 lbs in a month w/o strength defect, although keeping up energy/motivation for lifting can be a challenge.  Will do again for 4 weeks before my next cycle (so, in a few weeks).

*AAS:* 14 weeks, test-E 500mg ew during the fall/winter.  Just finished 3rd week of PCT.  Made strength and mass gains, have doubts about a couple vials being under dosed -- effects felt weirdly decreased during the middle 5 weeks.  (Won't re-use that source, I think.)  Planning to start again in 8 weeks, haven't decided for sure what exactly to do for it but will be soon.

*Lifts:* As of now (3/13), I'm a bit weaker than I was just before finishing the cycle a month ago, but things are coming back up again.  All maxes are from the past couple months, current working set weights in parentheses if lower.  (I don't do pure 1-rep maxes, and I don't really trust 1rm calculators).

Regular Deadlift: 395x4 (375x5)
Sumo Deadlift: 355x5
Back Squat: 290x4 (275x5)
Front Squat: 205x5
Flat Bench: 225x5 (195x5)
Next post will be my current workout mesocycle setup.  My goal is to update this thread every couple days with my progress.


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## dj920 (Mar 4, 2013)

I've been doing a push/pull split, breaking in over the past four weeks.  I haven't done serious training before that wasn't strength-focused (I consider this more hypertrophy-focused), so any advice on tweaking this is appreciated.

*Basic Setup*  2 days on, 1 day off.  I go in twice a day, heavy in the mornings (12-130pm) and light in the evening (9-10pm).
It would be bad to always have the push or the pull after the rest day, so I have a staggered schedule.

*Day*123456*Morning*Heavy PullHeavy Push_(rest)_Heavy PushHeavy Pull_(rest)_*Evening*Light PushLight PullLight PullLight Push

These are the actual exercise for each workout.  (Notation: two exercises in the same "set" means they're done as a superset.)

*"Heavy" Push/Pull workouts*

*Heavy Push**Heavy Pull*SetExerciseSet/RepSetExerciseSet/Rep1BB Front Squat**4x5-61BB Sumo DL**1x5-62BB Flat Bench3x8-102BB Pendlay Row3x8-103DB Inc Bench3x8-103Glute-Ham Raise3x8-103Leg Extension (Unilateral)3x8-103Hammer Strength Mid-Row (Unilateral)3x8-104Weighted Dips3x8-104BB Upright Row3x8-104DB Front Raise3x10-124BB Shrugs3x10-125Cable Flye3x8-105BB Reverse Curl3x8-105DB Lat Raise3x10-125Cable Lat PD (Wedge)3x10-126Cable Tri Ex (Bar)3x8-106DB Hammer Curl3x8-106DB Tri Ex (Unilateral)3x10-126Hammer Strength Preacher Curl3x10-12
** IF the previous day was a rest day, I do back squats instead of front squats, regular (non-sumo) deadlifts for 4x5-6 instead of the above.  Striking a balance between preserving my back/CNS from burnout while keeping what I consider "important" lifts relatively fresh.

*"Light" Push/Pull Workouts (all 3x10-12)*

*Light Push**Light Pull*SetExerciseSetExercise1BB Press1BB Rom Deadlift1BB Split Squat1Lying Leg Curl2BB Power Clean2BB High Pulls2(Rest)2Cable Straight-Arm PD3BB Reverse-Grip Bench3Cable Face Pulls3Standing Calf Raise3DB Incline Rear Delt4BB Close-Grip Bench4Cable Overhead Curls4Seated Calf Raise4DB Concentration Curls
I have recurring shoulder issues, and so have skipped the evening "Light Push" before non-rest days a couple times, but other than that I've been compliant without any injuries or overuse flaring up.


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## Jada (Mar 4, 2013)

wow really nice log, i like the details. welcome to si and will follow ur log


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## grind4it (Mar 4, 2013)

IMO, you need a lot more calories. Where you fat at one point in your life?


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## pirovoliko (Mar 4, 2013)

welcome to SI....


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## DF (Mar 4, 2013)

Nice log brother & welcome to SI!


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## 63Vette (Mar 4, 2013)

Great intro brother... welcome to SI and tear that shit up!!


Respect,
Vette


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## gymrat827 (Mar 4, 2013)

wow....someone really puts together solid spreadsheets.  

nice work so far, keep it going.


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## dj920 (Mar 6, 2013)

Diet has been a little off these past few days, a couple hundred fewer calories than I need, and not spaced out the way I'd like.  Need to make sure that I keep enough prepared food around so it's easy to still eat if I'm feeling lazy.


*3/3:  Heavy Push (morning) / Light Pull (evening)*


*Heavy Push*___*Light Pull*SetExerciseWeightsSetExerciseWeights1BB Back Squat[SUP]1[/SUP]275/4 280/4 210/4 205/51BB Rom Deadlift165/10 165/10 165/82BB Flat Bench210/4 205/5 200/5 200/51Lying Leg Curl55/9 55/8 50/83DB Inc Bench70/9 70/8 70/72BB High Pulls115/10 140/7 135/83Leg Extension (Unilateral)75/9 75/9 75/92Cable Straight-Arm PD55/10 55/10 55/94Weighted Dips30/11 35/9 35/83Cable Face Pulls50/10 50/10 50/104DB Front Raise20/9 20/9 20/83DB Incline Rear Delt[SUP]3[/SUP]12.5/7 10/9 10/85Cable Flye47.5/8 45/10 45/94Cable Overhead CurlsX[SUP]4[/SUP]5DB Lat Raise20/9 20/9 20/10 20/94DB Concentration Curls25/9 25/9 25/96Cable Tri Ex (Bar)X[SUP]2[/SUP]6DB Tri Ex (Unilateral)27.5/9 27.5/8 27.5/7

[SUP]1[/SUP] Switched to front squats for second two sets, just not feeling the back squats
[SUP]2[/SUP] Elbow started to bother me on flies, decided to take it a little easier
[SUP]3[/SUP] I truly suck at these
[SUP]4[/SUP] Ran out of time 


*3/4:  Heavy Pull (morning) / Light Push (evening)*


*Heavy Pull (morning)*___*Light Push (evening)*SetExerciseWeightsSetExerciseWeights1BB Sumo DL[SUP]1[/SUP]365/3 350/51BB Press115/8 110/7 105/82BB Yates Row155/10 175/8 175/81BB Split Squat[SUP]3[/SUP]105/8 95/6 95/63Glute-Ham Raise20/10 20/8 15/82BB Power Clean115/10 140/7 135/83Hammer Strength Mid-Row (Unilateral)90/10 90/10 90/92(Rest)4BB Upright Row[SUP]2[SUP]115/8 110/8 105/83BB Reverse-Grip Bench125/10 135/9 135/84BB Shrugs275/10 275/10 275/83Standing Calf Raise100/9 80/9 80/95BB Reverse Curl70/10 75/8 75/84BB Close-Grip Bench135/10 165/8 140/105Cable Lat PD (Wedge)145/10 150/8 145/84Seated Calf Raise110/12 100/10 100/106DB Hammer Curl35/8 32.5/8 32.5/86Hammer Strength Preacher Curl42.5/10 42.5/10 40/9

[SUP]1[/SUP] This is only supposed to be 5x1, but only got 3 reps on that first set (because I was trying to add 10# to my PR of 355x5), and wanted a little more of a victory to start off the workout.
[SUP]2[/SUP] These were strange.  I should be hitting 115/10 across, but I've been really pushing the shrugs hard in this superset lately so there's less in the tank for the rows.
[SUP]3[/SUP] This is not where I want to be with these but I'm still trying to figure out how to set it up with the EQ at my gym and getting comfortable with a barbell (used to just hold a plate).  Doing it in a power rack with a barbell feels awkward as fuck.


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## dj920 (Mar 6, 2013)

grind4it said:


> IMO, you need a lot more calories. Where you fat at one point in your life?



Actually the opposite, until college I was underweight to the point of concern.  The heaviest I've been is 210, and that was at the tail end of a couple months of >4500cal/day.  I think you're probably right that I should increase though... I haven't really adjusted my estimated BMR for the fact that I'm exercising a lot more than I have in the past.  Maybe I should be aiming for 3700 at least.


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## Dtownry (Mar 6, 2013)

I like your detail and the way you laid this out. Kudos to you.  Since you asked I will give you my opinion:  I would work on getting stronger first.  For your size and training history you are mediocre in strength to be honest.  Why not work on getting strong first and then work on some hypertrophy type training and diet tweaking to get 'big' as you say.

when I was about your age I went from 185 to 215 in about six months with nothing but 5x5 sets 3 days/wk and eating a shitload (NO AAS).  I am still about that weight but a lot stronger than I used to be. 

Just imagine if you were using 225 for bench, for instance, doing high rep sets with that.  Or 315+ on squats for multiple sets and reps.  You want to grow?  That's where you need to be brother.

Keep the shit simple. Get strong and then you can worry about all the rest.  You don't want to be all show and no go do you?


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## dj920 (Mar 7, 2013)

Dtownry said:


> I like your detail and the way you laid this out. Kudos to you.  Since you asked I will give you my opinion:  I would work on getting stronger first.  For your size and training history you are mediocre in strength to be honest.  Why not work on getting strong first and then work on some hypertrophy type training and diet tweaking to get 'big' as you say.
> 
> when I was about your age I went from 185 to 215 in about six months with nothing but 5x5 sets 3 days/wk and eating a shitload (NO AAS).  I am still about that weight but a lot stronger than I used to be.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the advice.  I hear what you're saying, and I also feel that my lifting stats are pretty poor given my training history.  All I can say is that I spent a lot of time early on very ineffectively; nobody else I knew/know lifts and it can be hard to tell what's good and bad advice on the internet.  I feel like things are coming together more now, though.

The reason for my shift in focus is that I was getting frustrated by strength gains that don't correspond to changes in appearance.  I added about 20% to my lifts during 6 mos of texas method, which I was really happy about, but found myself still looking like I barely lift (no visible upper body development, arms and lats in particular).  I'm not obsessed with aesthetics, but it's become a motivational issue --- at this point, I need something to feel like I'm changing something more concrete about myself than my relationship to numbers on a plate.  I didn't feel like that was happening to my satisfaction under SS or Texas method, thus this new approach.

I'm pleased that in the past ~5 weeks of a more hypertrophy-focused routine, I'm starting to see some changes.  My big lifts aren't going up as quickly as before, but for the moment I'm willing to trade some "go" for some "show" if it keeps me going to the gym and motivated through my workouts.  I'm sure that when I feel like my progress is a little more balanced, I'll be more than anxious to go back to a strength-focused macro.  (And just in case, before going down this road I set myself some cutoff points in terms of measurement improvement goals, so I can say to myself, "you did what you set out to do, now stop being vain and get back to strength.")

Realistically I see myself getting back to texas method / SS in 12-16 weeks, depending on how quickly my trajectory levels out with this setup.


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## Dtownry (Mar 7, 2013)

Have you ever seen the hybrid 5/3/1 'bodybuilding' program?  Core 5/3/1 but a lot of hypertrophy sets added in.   If not look it up.  Might be just what you are looking for.  Good luck brother.


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## RedLang (Mar 7, 2013)

Hey mate excellent writeup! Looks like your planning is too notch.

In my opinion, you are doing a lot of work. It seems your spending a fair amount of time in the gym that may not be necessary. Have you tried switching it up to a more basic routine? Maybe just afternoons or mornings? 1 hour or so is normally plenty of time to smash out a good workout.

Also, one thing that will govern your strength and size will be your nutrition. I used to think my nutrition was spot on. Not until i had time with a professional who works with bodybuilders, strongmen etc did i notice where my pitfalls were. There is a brother here who could offer you assistance in this area, Spongy. Spending money on nutrition first will cut your goal time in half.

Good luck mate , will be following.


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## dj920 (Mar 12, 2013)

Been a rough week.  Was sick 3/7-3/9, so took a couple of rest days and took it a little easier on 3/10.  Bumped my calories by 500, so now getting around 3700/day, same macronutrient balance.  Lifts all bumped up by reps or weight a bit after recovery.  Planning to hold steady on 3/13-3/14, then another incremental bump the next time around.


* 3/6: Heavy Pull*


*Heavy Pull*SetExerciseWeights1BB Reg DL375/5 385/5 380/4 380/4[SUP]1[/SUP]2BB Yates Row175/8 165/8 165/83Glute-Ham Raise20/10 20/9 15/83Hammer Strength Mid-Row (Unilateral)92/10 92/9 92/84BB Upright Row115/8 115/7 110/94BB Shrugs275/11 275/10 275/85BB Reverse Curl75/9 75/9 75/85Cable Lat PD (Wedge)147/10 150/8 150/86DB Hammer Curl35/8 35/8 35/86Hammer Strength Preacher Curl42/9 40/9 40/9
[SUP]1[/SUP] New 3-set PR by a good margin

[sick 3/7-3/9]


* 3/10: Heavy Push *


*Heavy Push*SetExerciseWeights1BB Front Squat205/4 205/4 200/42BB Flat BenchX[SUP]1[/SUP]3DB Inc Bench70/10 75/9 75/73Leg Extension (Unilateral)80/9 80/8 80/94Weighted Dips35/10 35/10 35/104DB Front Raise20/10 20/8 20/85Cable Flye47/9 47/8 45/85DB Lat Raise20/10 20/8 20/86Cable Tri Ex (Bar)140/11 140/8 137/96DB Tri Ex (Unilateral)25/8 22/8 22/7
[SUP]1[/SUP] Still recovering from being sick, this was just not happening.  Warmup sets felt rough so I saved it for the later sets.


* 3/11:  Heavy Pull / Light Push*


*Heavy Pull (morning)*___*Light Push (evening)*SetExerciseWeightsSetExerciseWeights1BB Sumo DL375/4[SUP]1[/SUP]1BB Press115/9 115/7 110/82BB Pendlay Row[SUP]2[/SUP]155/8 155/8 155/81BB Split Squat75/8 95/8 95/83Glute-Ham Raise20/10 20/8 20/72BB Power CleanX3Hammer Strength Mid-Row (Unilateral)92/10 92/9 92/102(Rest)4BB Upright Row115/8 110/9 115/73BB Reverse-Grip Bench135/10 135/10 135/104BB Shrugs[SUP]3[/SUP]285/10 285/10 285/93Standing Calf Raise100/10 100/9 100/95BB Reverse Curl75/10 80/8 75/104BB Close-Grip Bench140/10 140/9 135/105Cable Lat PD (Wedge)150/8 150/9 150/94Seated Calf Raise100/12 110/12 120/116DB Hammer Curl35/10 35/10 35/106Hammer Strength Preacher Curl42/9 42/10 42/10
[SUP]1[/SUP] One more rep than last time at this weight... scraped the hell out of my knee though, had to retreat briefly for a bandage.
[SUP]2[/SUP] Starting to get the form for these down better.
[SUP]3[/SUP] Added 10#, still feeling good


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## dj920 (Mar 12, 2013)

Dtownry said:


> Have you ever seen the hybrid 5/3/1 'bodybuilding' program?  Core 5/3/1 but a lot of hypertrophy sets added in.   If not look it up.  Might be just what you are looking for.  Good luck brother.



I looked it up, seems pretty interesting.  There's a variation that I'm going to study a bit further, 5/3/1 with "bodybuilder assistance work".  (I'm going to let this current thing run out 4-6 more weeks first though, so I can know how effective it is for me.  Seems good so far, but it's kind of early to tell.)



RedLang said:


> Hey mate excellent writeup! Looks like your planning is too notch.
> 
> In my opinion, you are doing a lot of work. It seems your spending a fair amount of time in the gym that may not be necessary. Have you tried switching it up to a more basic routine? Maybe just afternoons or mornings? 1 hour or so is normally plenty of time to smash out a good workout.
> 
> ...



I'm certain I could be doing less and getting at least the same results, but honestly right now I have a lot of free time on my hands so I figure why not give it a try.  Part of the reason I am doing this routine is to see how my body responds to it --- is it productive for me to structure things this way --- because I might not have time to really give it a try in the intermediate future when I am more time-constrained.

I did bump my calories up a fair amount (3200 -> 3700), and I've been paying more attention to PWO meals this week.  I'll assess the impact in a couple of weeks and either bump it again or not depending on how things shake out.


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## AlphaD (Mar 12, 2013)

Hey dj, Nice log brother, keep up the good work.  I agree with everyone upping the calories, so glad to see you bumped them up.


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## dj920 (Mar 16, 2013)

Been thinking about comments along the lines of "too much work" and modified my plan slightly to take it into account.  The biggest problem I'm running into is that the second day of heavy push(/pull) after an evening of the light push(/pull) feels like not enough recovery time, and I notice that I'm not able to get the same intensity as when it's after a rest day.  So I'm dropping the "light" workout that comes between the two heavy workouts, for something like this:

*Day*123456*Morning*Heavy PullHeavy Push_(rest)_Heavy PushHeavy Pull_(rest)_*Evening*_(rest)_Light Pull_(rest)__(rest)_Light Push_(rest)_
This way I still get the accessory work (and press/rom DL) in and it's before a rest day so I can push myself without worrying about affecting the next workout.

* 3/13: Heavy Push / Light Pull*
(lost piece of paper I wrote down light pull numbers before I copied them down, but were approx the same as last time.  going to increment a couple things next time around.)

*Heavy Push (morning)*SetExerciseWeights1BB Back Squat[SUP]1[/SUP]265/4 265/5 255/52BB Flat Bench195/6 200/6 205/5 205/43DB Inc Bench[SUP]2[/SUP]70/7 65/8 65/83Leg Extension (Unilateral)80/9 80/9 80/94Weighted Dips35/9 35/8 35/84DB Front Raise20/8 20/8 20/85Cable Flye47.5/6 42.5/8 40/85DB Lat Raise17.5/10 17.5/10 17./106Cable Tri Ex (Bar)145/10 142/8 140/86DB Tri Ex (Unilateral)22.5/8 22.5/8 20/10
[SUP]1[/SUP] The numbers here are stagnant but I'm working on getting better at hitting my desired depth.  I also switched up the power racks because I noticed that I was getting too cued to stopping just above where the pins happened to be on my regular rack instead of feeling out the proper depth for me physiologically.
[SUP]2[/SUP] Derp, looks like when I don't skip flat bench it goes back down to 65.  Not surprising, I guess.

* 3/14: Heavy Pull*

For the heavy push, I really worked on keeping my rest intervals short and regular (< 1 min for supersets other than DL; longer between b/c of setting up weights etc.), and I was definitely feeling it around the GHR / row.  I don't really have the time for cardio during this macro, and I'm definitely feeling the conditioning defect I've accumulated by letting my rest intervals get lazy!

*Heavy Pull*SetExerciseWeights1BB Sumo DL385/5 380/5 385/42BB Pendlay Row[SUP]1[/SUP]155/8 175/8 165/83Glute-Ham Raise20/8 20/8 15/83Hammer Strength Mid-Row (Unilateral)92.5/10 92.5/10 92.5/94BB Upright Row115/8 115/8 115/74BB Shrugs[SUP]2[/SUP]285/8 285/10 285/85BB Reverse Curl85/7 80/8 80/85Cable Lat PD (Wedge)150/10 150/9 150/86DB Hammer Curl35/8 32.5/9 32.5/86Hammer Strength Preacher Curl42.5/9 42.5/10 42.5/9
[SUP]1[/SUP] Another lift where my stats are stagnant, but I'm still kind of new to these and solidifying the proper form.  Today was better than last time in that regard.
[SUP]2[/SUP] Grip is becoming a limiting factor here.  I use a kind of half-trap bar (bows out in the middle) so that I can pull up and back without crushing my waist, and that means I need to keep the bar from rotating so I use switch grip.  I'm finding I need to alternate grip halfway through the last set.  I'm considering replacing 1x5 sumo DL with 3x8 rack pulls to train grip a bit more.


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## DF (Mar 16, 2013)

Great log & nice charts!  My question is how are you making the charts?  It would save me alot of time on my log if you could help a brother out.


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## Jada (Mar 16, 2013)

Great detail brother!!


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## Dtownry (Mar 16, 2013)

Dfeaton said:


> Great log & nice charts!  My question is how are you making the charts?  It would save me alot of time on my log if you could help a brother out.



I second that. Good work by the way.  Keep it up!


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## dj920 (Mar 16, 2013)

Thanks for the encouragement, all.



Dfeaton said:


> Great log & nice charts!  My question is how are you making the charts?  It would save me alot of time on my log if you could help a brother out.



Sure!  Unfortunately I don't have any particularly clever trick to share --- I just write tables in BBcode.  I save time by using a set of "templates" that I created when I decided to start a logging here (blank tables for each "day" of my workout) so when I go to do a log entry I simply paste in a template and fill in the weights in the [td]-delimited spaces.  Took about 25 mins to fix them all up in the beginning but saves a lot of time now when I'm making a new post.  (As an example, I've attached my templates for my "heavy push" and "heavy pull / light push" days.)  Hope that helps!


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## NbleSavage (Mar 16, 2013)

Nice log, Mate. Smart program.


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