Loochi's never ending quest to become the best!

[Loochi]

Loochi's never ending quest to become the best!

Hey NZBB,

I have finally decided to start a work out journal! Not sure how interesting / informative it will be, but it will be good to keep track of things I do and read other people's opinions and experiences that I may encounter during my 2011 bulk journey. :grin:

Feeling disillusioned after the competition I participated in last weekend really motivated me to start a clean bulk and strive to hit some new numbers in the gym but also to work on my balance top to bottom.

My main focus during this off season is to bring up some lagging body parts such as my arms (finally decided to add a day just for them, going to smash them) - also my hamstrings, I want that sweeping drop when I do a side tricep or side chest, over all back thickness and width, more deltoid development and also a bit more size on my quads. But over all, I want everything to be bigger and leaner for next time.

Instead of just standing there and assuming what's lagging I actually took pictures in the compulsary poses since those are the poses that show what areas need immediate attention (provided ofcourse you have decent posing experience) - Every time before going on to the stage I would tell my self "If you are paying money to show your OWN physique off, you better come first in your class." That has changed now... Coming first in my class isn't enough, I want an over all title and I don't care how long it will take me! \:D/

Let's get down to business.. 8)

Day 1, Chest.

-6x6 Flat bench press 90kg's. 2 seconds eccentric, pause at the bottom of the lift

-3x8 incline dumbbell press 40kg's. Superset with incline machine flies (30lbs). Same principle as the flat bench. (Awesome burn in this one!)

-3x6 flat dumbbell press 35kg's. Was feeling fatigued during this exercise..

-3x8 decline dumbbell press 25kg's

** Not a bad pump today actually, my motivation was off the roof and I felt great with my mind and muscle connection.. Reason why my bench has 6 sets of 6 reps is because I'm looking into some power lifting to increase my strength and hopefully increase thickness in my chest back and legs during this off season, everywhere in general. So took a bit of the Smolov JR and thought I'd throw it in there but also considering dropping the volume during the week to see how I feel.. Whether to increase or decrease etc. Added the decline bench which I never do but thought I'd give it a shot and see how it looks in 12 weeks time

Here is an example of what I am talking about. I took this side chest picture today and I can already see that my triceps and hamstring sweep need attention. Otherwise I'm actually impressed with the chest

Diet: 190p, 400c, 55f - Vague but as you all know, I don't actually care what food I eat, as long as I hit the numbers.. These were the numbers I had 1 month out of the show and I was still dropping weight, weekly I will make adjustments to grow and monitor my progress.. I might take 20g of carbs and add it to the protein tomorrow. Will see how it goes.. Time to sleep and wake up to a back workout! \:D/

[Phedder]

The long awaited Journal has arrived Look forward to following your journey mate.

[poos_n_wees]

I'm impressed by your chest too :grin:

Coming first in my class isn't enough, I want an over all title and I don't care how long it will take me! \:D/

Awesome.

All the best with this Loochi! Will definitely be keeping up with your progress.

[Pseudonym]

Oh bugger. Another must-read journal. I'm never going to get any work done.

[thatwaslight]

Awesome stuff bro one of the few BODYBUILDING journals :clap:

[drizzt]

Good stuff bro, looking forward to following your journey

[olympia]

Epic bro. Gonna be a journal to rival all other journals. Looking mint

[Calvin]

:grin: Looking good looch. Will be following like gym rat on a WWE diva..

[jokerized]

Sweet good luck with this mate, will be following.

[Monarchking]

Pretty good strength pausing at each rep.

[Loochi]

Hey everyone, thank you for the support and kind words! It just motivates me to train harder and ascend to new heights with my training : ) -

Day 2, Back.

- Deadlifts 160 x 8

- 3x8 30kg weighted wide grip pull ups

- 3x8 30kg weighted close grip pull ups

- 3x10 110lbs wide grip lat pull down

- 3x15 rack chins

- 3x8 60kg bent over rows

- 3x8 70kg T bar rows

- 3x12 66kg cable rows

Man, what a pump! Gotta love back training. The pumps in my back and lats were insane, never felt them like that before! I incorporated two new exercises in my programme, the infamous lat pull down and the nice finisher cable rows.

My deadlift today was pretty shocking, I could barely move it.. I always warm up on 60kg's and work my way up. Today it felt like I was trying to lift 4 plates or something rather.. :think: - Perhaps maybe it was due to sleeping late so tonight I will sleep an hour or so earlier and see how my first arm session will be like \:D/

For all you guys out there who have great arm routines, throw me some ideas. I lack arms big time so help a brother out!

Incase you're wondering why lifts are so weak, it's because I'm a bitch. Just kidding :pfft: - The reason for this is, well for starters I'm not exactly the strongest person around, and 2nd reason is that I try to use correct form all the way through my lifts, the moment I feel like other body parts are being used to help me lift the weight I will drop it back down.

I tried doing the bent over row and T bar row with less range of motion.. I feel the more range of motion I use, the more my arms start to take control and I have to say guys, my back is feeling pretty pumped.. Which is great sinc I lack thickness greatly. Let's see if it's sore tomorrow. Lats, never had a problem getting them pumped but thought I'd add another exercise to my routine and see if I can could a tadddd wider. Or thicker atleast.

Over all the session was good and went on time : ) - just wish the deadlifts were controlled a bit better.. Over all I'm happy with today and can't bloody wait to work on my arms tomorrow! Will be at the uni gym since I got a 3 hour gap between classes. Speaking of which, got real shitty today because the lecturer wouldn't allow me to eat my meal even though I am studying sport and they usually allow us eating due to our training... Don't know what the problem was. Next time I will just walk out, have my meal and come back in lol..

Kinda feels good that I am not aiming for any competition at this moment, sure I am still watching what I eat but I think I would have gone crazy if I had a competition any time soon and this sorta crap happened.. :roll:

[Mike Zero]

Good strength for your bodyweight brah!

How much weight are you limiting yourself to put on during (extended?) offseason?

[jimjim83]

You know Im a fan Loochi but WTF is with the art house photo at the begining? :pfft:

[Loochi]

Mike: Thanks bro! Lol I hope to be as strong as you one day

Honestly that's a good question mate.. :think: - Haven't really thought about it, but before prep I was 82kg's so definitely no way near that. The plan for me is to stay under 10% body fat. I am still monitoring what I eat and will get caliper testing done every 2 weeks or so. I will definitely throw in some mini cycles of a calorie defecit to keep this up. The thing is, when I let myself go it takes far too long cardio or no cardio to get into this condition. And this condition honestly is pretty average when it comes to the bodybuilding stage in my honest opinion..

There is no way in hell that I will get a natural pro card in the future looking the way I did on stage last weekend (condition wise). So the plan is to be lean-leanish in the off season, so when I cut down for the next comp I won't have any regrets like this time. The upside too I will look better in the off season.. Actually wait :doh: I'm going to be hairy as f*ck! Lol.

It's funny because when I saw myself in the mirror and when friends and other bodybuilding associates saw me they said I was shredded.. I look at pictures and I cringe at the condition. Lol - No I'm not asking for sympathy or "nah bro you were shredded" etc. So it's a lesson learnt really. :nod: - I just know that next time I come on stage I will be at my best!

JimJim: LOL! Bro I tried to look all like 'cool' and shit.. Do I look like a homo or something? :pfft: - I can take it down if it's bothering you all haha. Had some photos taken by 1day about a month ago and they were all in the farm, no bbing shots actually. Well there actually were some but looked way out of place lmao. In my screen this pic looks all black and shadowy, on other people's its just me half naked... Lol fail.

[HarryB]

Mad genetics and making the best advantage of them with hard and smart training. That's bodybuilding right there. Look. Forward to following your training and comps.

[jimjim83]

Mike: Thanks bro! Lol I hope to be as strong as you one day

Honestly that's a good question mate.. :think: - Haven't really thought about it, but before prep I was 82kg's so definitely no way near that. The plan for me is to stay under 10% body fat. I am still monitoring what I eat and will get caliper testing done every 2 weeks or so. I will definitely throw in some mini cycles of a calorie defecit to keep this up. The thing is, when I let myself go it takes far too long cardio or no cardio to get into this condition. And this condition honestly is pretty average when it comes to the bodybuilding stage in my honest opinion..

There is no way in hell that I will get a natural pro card in the future looking the way I did on stage last weekend (condition wise). So the plan is to be lean-leanish in the off season, so when I cut down for the next comp I won't have any regrets like this time. The upside too I will look better in the off season.. Actually wait :doh: I'm going to be hairy as f*ck! Lol.

It's funny because when I saw myself in the mirror and when friends and other bodybuilding associates saw me they said I was shredded.. I look at pictures and I cringe at the condition. Lol - No I'm not asking for sympathy or "nah bro you were shredded" etc. So it's a lesson learnt really. :nod: - I just know that next time I come on stage I will be at my best!

JimJim: LOL! Bro I tried to look all like 'cool' and shit.. Do I look like a homo or something? :pfft: - I can take it down if it's bothering you all haha. Had some photos taken by 1day about a month ago and they were all in the farm, no bbing shots actually. Well there actually were some but looked way out of place lmao. In my screen this pic looks all black and shadowy, on other people's its just me half naked... Lol fail.

Just fucking with you dude!! :pfft:

[Loochi]

MK: Forgot to reply to you! Thanks bro, I try to make my exercises harder :grin: if it's easy, something's wrong!!

HarryB: Thanks mate. I guess this is the only thing that I've stuck with and had success or atleast oppertunities so why not try my best and see where it takes me ya know? Plust my future is going to be in the gym anyway :pfft: - Thanks for following!

JimJim:

For tomorrows training I am thinking that I will do 5 exercises for each bi's and tri's...

Two of the five exercises I am thinking will be like 3 x 12; while the remainder three of the five exercises will be more to do with power for example 3 x 5. What are your thoughts on this? And what exercises helped you improve your bicep peak and sweep on your triceps? Can't wait. Never been so into training \:D/

[Loochi]

Yo what's up everyone?

Had my arm workout today and I gotta say, it felt fantastic! \:D/

Did 5 exercises for each muscle group and ended up being 20ish sets for each. Still finished on time so I am impressed. Only bad thing is I skipped my lecture to do it :shifty: guess that's dedication, huh? In a stupid way... But as long as I pass the paper then who really cares?

One thing I've been proud of myself is that I am going to university (passing my papers), working part time, maintaining a healthy social life and contest prepping. I guess with alot of things going on in my life I began to manage my time properly (except today with wagging my lecture lol! :pfft: )

Day 3, Arms.

-Cable curls

*3 x 12 of 42kg

-Reverse EZ bar curls

*3 x 12 of 30kg

-Standing close grip EZ bar curls

*1 x 5 of 30kg

1 x 5 of 35kg

3 x 5 of 40kg

-Reverse position on the preacher DB curls

*1 x 5 of 15kg

3 x 5 of 17.5kg

1 x 5 of 15kg (felt my elbows starting to come off to compensate. :naughty: )

-Standing alternating hammer curls

*5 x 5 of 22.5kg

Not bad, the most intense burn was with the reverse curl. Especially because when I rep my exercise I do them slowly and try to focus on that specific muscle contracting. Vascularity was off the chain :shock: - Kept receiving compliments from everyone body because I guess I am still hairless and some of the tan still ain't off my skin

Also felt an awesome pump in the dumbbell reverse preacher. What I mean by this, is basically I curl the dumbbell where the seat is. I take the seat off, so it's not a 45degree angle, its just straight down. I will take a video of this next week incase y'all are confused, but I feel like it helps target the bicep alot and the beauty is, there is minimal cheating, I feel with the normal preacher position you can still use your elbows. In my 5th set I felt that tinnny bit of movement in my elbow and I thought I'd drop the weight. It hurts to drop the weight but at the end of the day who cares about how much you're lifting. As long you can do what ever it is to get the hypertrophy.. right?

Not bad for a first arm day, I like that bicep routine, I feel I can hit the peak and the width. : ) - still open to new ideas ofcourse,

- Cable push downs

*3 x 15 of 78kg

- Dips in the squat rack (relax, I am the only one who squats in the gym.)

*3 x 20 of 20kg (should have put this up, too easy..)

- Skullcrushers

*1 x 5 of 30kg

1 x 5 of 35kg

1 x 5 of 40kg

1 x 5 of 45kg

1 x 5 of 40kg

- Overhead dumbbell press

*1 x 5 of 30kg

1 x 5 of 35kg

3 x 5 of 37.5kg

- Pulldowns

*5 x 5 of 40kg

Triceps were pretty pumped, was stoked. I like to think that I have nice tricep shape, but I lack that sweep when I demonstrate a front double bicep.. Infact, when I hit a front double bicep I have no seperation in my arms?! It's either body fat or lack of mass.. I believe it's the latter! But when I hit a side tricep then it's a totally different story, had the best side tricep in all of my competitions.

It's amazing when I was doing the skull crushers, I actually did them with ease until I put 45kg's.. It start to mess up my form and I actually felt my chest being used - Had to drop that one down.. A bit disappointed with myself that I didn't put the weight up in those dips. Next time definitely doubling or even tripling it!

I also think that parallel dips are like the upper body squats. Meaning you should have it in your routine to grow.. But I don't feel too much tricep stimulation from it, but I do in the chest so I will add that type of dip to my chest routine. I had it in my prep actually :think: don't know why I didn't do it on Monday.. Otherwise the form in my triceps was great! But I think I could have handled a bit more weight in some of the exercises. Not a bad day though! Soon I will get the hang of it. I gotta master that mind muscle connection with the biceps.

Here's a picture of my front double bicep, it's one week before my competition, condition and body weight is the same, maybe 100-200grams difference :pfft: - But I will post another picture in 6-8 weeks to see if I made a change.

Better go to uni, will post later. Peace and thanks again for following :grin:

[tomsammce]

Big guy! f*ck man u have come along way! awesome!

what are you training on saturday, i will be coming down to the tron sat lunchtime so wanna train sat arvo? i keen to learn your secrets! srs!

p.s - keep shaving man, even in off season (no homo)

[Loochi]

Tom: Thanks Tom! :grin: coming from a guy with your physique is a huge compliment.

Bro I wish we could train on saturday, but Fri night / all sat and all sun is when I work... I hate work but need the $$$ for my trip in October. They were mad that I didn't work last Sat due to my competition :pfft:

I saw on your FB status that you are at Botany CP? Lol I agree, lots of Indians. My cousin trains there, doubt you'd spot him though he looks like a Kiwi

I always go to Auckland around November for a month or two to chill with the family and that's where I train! If you're still there we can train or if you come another time to the tron mate. I'd be happy to say I trained with the great Tom :grin:

Just a tip, I'd go to Les Mills in town if you're here.. Only place that will have any sort of competition against the Auckland gyms from what I remember.. Every other gym here with the exception of uni and les mills I mentioned are the good ones.. Rest I wouldn't bother lol.

Hey mate no secrets here, just new methods I test out and sometimes I strike gold with them. But most of the time I fail miserably - did alot of experimenting in my 2010 off season and found out some stuff that worked and some stuff that didn't. This off season is going to be more than a year. Don't have much in mind as to what I should try... I am trying a new way to increase my strength while I continue my bbing regimne and also trying to stay lean while adding mass slowly so next time I cut I will be more shredded and retain more of the size!

So excuse me if you see some fucked up shit in my journal lol. It's all trial and error! I'll definitely let you all know how things go though lol. Would hate for some try some of the stuff I have and end up wasting their time..

LOL. Bro it's a hassle trying to be hairless! (wish I was Asian..) I'm loving my tan though, I look like a ghost in that FDB but right now I get compliments on my color.. Just won't go away, even with baby oil lol. I don't care though I guess. I'll def keep that in mind though mate. Hmm.. Maybe I should consider laser hair removal.. If I recall, pseudonym did this?

Thanks for the kind words mate, highlight of my bbing day!! :grin:

- So what do you guys think of my front double bi? Definitely need tricep sweep and bicep peaks right? Quads look small but that's only because the lats / back over powers.. But maybe I do need to make them bigger.. Ok they're small

[Loochi]

Thought of the day

One thing I notice with people is that they put too much emphasis on genetics. Sure genetics plays a huge role in how one looks, waise size, shoulder broadness etc. But I remember back in the day before I took my leg trainings more serious I used to think that I would never ever have 'respectable' legs. This automatically gives one the impression that no matter what they do or try, they will never achieve their desired outcome if that makes any sense.

All it really boils down to is

A) How badly you want it,

B) how much time and effort are you willing to put into it.

The way I see life is, if you focus on one thing 100%, then you are going to be a champion at it.

Take me for example (no not the champion part lol), I work, study and train. These are the 3 things that come to mind when people ask me "So Loochi, what you been up to?" - Those are the three things that I respond with.

So if you think about it 33.3% of my time is spent on the gym while the other 66.6% is on things that I don't really care about (sad to say but I couldn't care less about uni, just want to finish and work is just work. No satisfaction working in farmers lol :pfft: )

If I didn't have those 2 to worry about I could enhance my training far greater than what it is now. I try to push my self to my limits and beyond but there's only so much that can be done without having to worry about one or the other.

I'm not trying to say you should give things up, but what I'm trying to say is when you have your mind set on something and have less distracting things, then chances are of you accomplishing what you set out to achieve increase. (No shit. :pfft: )

Every leg workout I had I went all out, sure they're still not like soundsgood or wheels but I still get asked about them, even during my competition people asked me what I did etc, why? Because I put alot of time and thought into them, and I believe I can only do the same for my arms and whatever goal I have to do with my journey..

Don't ever limit yourself or blame genetics. Sure you'll have some body parts that won't grow as fast but that's only because your genetic strong points also grow. Some of you maybe remember me bitching about my arms a year ago right? Well, They have grown an inch.. But so have my other body parts. I will just have to focus harder on them just like how I did with my lagging parts. :nod:

[Monarchking]

I'm not trying to say you should give things up, but what I'm trying to say is when you have your mind set on something and have less distracting things, then chances are of you accomplishing what you set out to achieve increase. (No shit. )

Got to agree. I can relate, not bb related but last cricket season(im no natural cricketer lmao) We needed a new opening batsman. And I really wanted the challenge. I was in the nets more than most, and thought/talked/watched cricket 24/7(boring for some I know)but I was Fucken determined. And in that 4-5week period of 100% mental focus, I stepped up(imo) nothing special, but defiantly exceeded my natural ability. And was nominated most improved at our end of year break up. \:D/

But dam once my mind had doubt and I lost focus, shit hit the fan.

Edit: You've given me some ideas for my next back smashing.

[Pseudonym]

Hmm.. Maybe I should consider laser hair removal.. If I recall, pseudonym did this?

Yep, it's hideously expensive, but it's worth it. You're the ideal candidate for it too - pale skin, and coarse, dark hair means they can turn the machine up to the highest (most effective) settings.

BTW, I think the arty photo is a nice start to your journal, bro. But we can tell you're in the 'Tron when you're standing on a cow trough! Actually, it looks like you're considering whether to drink or swim :pfft:

[Loochi]

MK: Lol! Bro, I can't STAND cricket but to be honest, any other sport. I grew up a nerd playing video games so I can't relate. It really pisses me off at the gym, there's this guy, I think he's real slow or something.. I swear I told him like 5 times already "Dude I wouldn't know, I don't care about rugby." - Every week he asks me "Did you watch the game" :pfft:

Mate well done :clap: - Determination for sure.. That's pretty inspirational man, just goes to show if you want something you just set your mind to it (genuinely) then just keep chipping at it until you get it - glad you found something in the back workout bro.

Pseudonym: Lol yeah, lucky me right? - Haha yeah, when I saw that photo taken I thought "hmm would be cool to have it at the start of a journal if I decide to make one." It was a great experience taking those photos but mate was it bloody cold :shock: - Lol Is the tron that obviously boring

[bang_bang]

hey loochi always enjoy reading your updates and im looking forward to following your journal.

btw it looks like your new split is going to be 25% work 25% uni 25% gym 25% nzbb