2015 the year to eXceL

[Kalidane]

Day 43 28 Oct

W = 153.8lbs (-0.4lbs) or 69 3/4 kg (-1/4 kg)

 

Calves crazy tight, the poor little fellas, and lower back mondo unhappy, so a stress-free upperbody session on no sleep and two muffins.

 

Flat Bench

Bar x 15

40kg x 10

50kg x 8

60kg x 6 x2

Shoulders seemed happy with that so we're winning so far.

 

Pec Dec

6 x 10

6 x 8

4 x 15

Shoulda gone to failure but I got bored at 15 and was getting shoulder protraction which isn't really the purpose.

 

DB Shrug

20kg x 10 x 2

20kg x 12

Pretty knackered at this point.  Rests were kept pretty damned short.

 

Pec Dec

4 x 15 x 2

Just 'cos.

 

Rope Tricep Pushdown S/S DB Curl

36kg x 12, x10, x? 

8kg x 12, x10, x?

I was counting, honest!  Just not conscious enough to actually know what the numbers were. Obvious next step, therefor, must be:

 

Rope Tricep Pushdown drop sets to failure

30kg, 24kg, 18kg, 12kg

That'll teach them *diablo*

 

Lot's of fun twitchy bits hours later but thinking that training after skipping a sleep period is not ideal.  A bit too much nausea and weirdness.  I will have an app for that soon...

[Kalidane]

Day 47

 

First time training Arthur Fonzarelli©-style.

 

A little behind in R/C love so we'll start there.

 

Internal Rotations

15 x 2

 

External Rotations

12, 10 x 2

 

Lat Pulldowns with stirrups

30kg x 10 x 4

Wasn't sure how weight would be affected by the different approach so I took it gently.  It turns out that this is freakin awesome compared to the usual approach.  Could feel all kinds of activation in stuff I don't think I've ever felt before.  Keen to feel out a good working weight and see what happens.

 

DB Alt Front Raise neutral grip

5kg x 10 x 2

Maybe too light on the test weight, but didn't feel any tightness or 'pulling' in the delts, either during or after, so that's looking good too.

 

DB Bench Press neutral grip

10kg x 10 x 2

Probably the best pec squeeze/activation I can recall.  Weights well controlled but you'd kind of hope so at this weight.  Elbows closer to 45 degrees than 90.  I'm guessing this movement will take some practise to get the stabilisers operational so I'm just gonna ease the weight up slowly and work into it.  It ain't a race and I like having functioning shoulders.

 

Didn't want to do seated rows as a rhomboid or trap was still grizzling from the prior session.  Skipped side raises as I expect that to remain tricky, and doing those would massively complicate figuring out any problems.  Also, didn't want to add in Arnold Press as 3 new exercises is plenty of variables should I still get inpingement/other complaints over the next couple of days.  Basically this was more a mission of exploration than a workout.  So I was surprised to discover the lats got a lot out of it and that they run so far down the body!  Leads me to suspect that the teres family have been claiming a lot of the gains in that area with the poor lats missing out. 

 

Still trying to figure out my camera and some other stuff so grabbed a quick shot that we'll call a progress pic... tight shot because I would have stroked out trying to tense any more parts lol

 

 

[Pseudonym]

Are you already hitting the tanning beds in preparation for those After photos, mate?!

[Kalidane]

Are you already hitting the tanning beds in preparation for those After photos, mate?!

Partly it was my camera/lighting being a bit screwy and partly no comment lol

[Kalidane]

Day 53

W = 158.0lbs (+3.8lbs) or 71 2/3kg (+1 2/3kg)

Monday was a bit freaky with 150 (68) on the scales and a skinfold test at 9mm at the chubbliest bit I could find.

Calories: 3851 285C/182F/266P

 

Despite being good with stretches the lower-ish back is still not cool.  Pretty sure that and the diet will be a lot more to my liking shortly so I'm not sweating it too hard today.

 

External Rotations 12x3

 

DB Bench Press neutral grip

12.5kg x 12 x 3 pecs weren't really getting into it for some reason

 

Squeeze Press

8kg x 12 x 3 arms were shaking like hell as I tried to squeeze the crap out of the DBs

 

Pec Deck

5 x 6 shoulders too protracted so start again

4 x 2 still happening

3 x 10 x 4 meh even light as I didn't like how much shoulder movement there was so will switch to some DB-based exercise next time.

 

Seated 1 Arm Rows

48kg x 12

54kg x 12 x 2   the last few reps of the final set didn't have the most awesome form but it was the first time at this weight so it's no biggie

 

Lat Pull Downs neutral grip

36kg x 12 x 2 didn't seem right

42kg x 10 x 2 elbows in and chest lifted, much better

 

Front Raise

8kg x f*ck knows

Was easy as but I was so rooted I called it quits before I died.  Cardio level is so frickin bad.  Didn't get to shrugs, tricep pushdowns, bicep curls, calf raises. 

 

Will see Mickey tomorrow for a plan to get cardio up to speed quickly.

 

May as well have a progress pic as I don't think I'll be this vascular/lean again (although bf% will be falling).  God damned out of focus crap.

 

 

Engage stealth bloat-mode....

 

[Kalidane]

 

Day 64

 

 

Moved house Saturday, so new diet and training begins today.

 

Back Squat

40kg x 6

60kg x 3 x 2

80kg x 2 x 2 A bit origami at the bottom

60kg x 3 x 2

 

One Arm Seated Rows

54 x 8

60 x 8

66 x 6 x 2

 

Neutral Grip Lat Pulldown

36 x 8

42 x 8

48 x 6 x 3

 

Maybe had time for BB rows but it was getting iffy.

 

Post WO: shake and 4 BBQ Rodeo burgers for 2064 cals, 174C/105F/118P

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kalidane]

Day 66

 

New gym.  They close too early so missed out yesterday.

 

BB Rows

40kg x 8

50kg x 6 x 3

60kg x3, x2

 

Rack Pulls - bottom pin (no deadlifts option on site until more gear ships in)

60kg x 6

80kg x 6

100kg x3, x2

120kg x 1

120kg x 1 x 2 Mixed grip.  Muy bueno.

 

DB Shrugs

30kg x 6 x 2

24kg x 4

24kg x 5 x 2

 

Grip rooted so had to wrap it up.

 

Not quite up for high frequency squats yet.  Sooon....

 

PWO stuffs: shitty BK stuff and a shake for 1585 cals, 141C/76F/111P.

 

Edit:

Also, PWO supps 10g creatine, 10g glutamine, 10g leucine.  The stuff is just sitting around so may as well use it or lose it.

 

[Kalidane]

Given that diet/sleep/training were so disrupted during the GymNation comp, I'm restarting my day count to Monday this week when the new diet and training program were implemented.

 

Day 5

 

Hammis still tight/sore from Monday/Wednesday so I figure some isometric stretching sounded good.  Dunno what that is so I did squats.

 

Back Squats

Bar x 10

60kg x 3 x 3

Hmmm didn't feel any tightness at the bottom nor back rounding.  Maybe should have done more volume but I got to the gym pretty close to closing time so couldn't muck around too much.

 

To the training.

 

Not chest-day yet, Saturday is a planned day off and Sunday will hopefully be a big day so I thought I'd try out behind the neck presses and see what the shoulders have to say about that.  If they don't like it they should still get over it by Sunday.

 

BNP

10kg x 10 well that seemed fine

20kg x 10 x 3 still good

Was tempted to do more volume or weight but I'd rather see how the shoulders feel in 24 hours.  First time is gentle.

 

Not being chest-day I didn't want to bench but still I thought it would be fun to do a little partial ROM flat benching just to remind everything that I still love them.

 

Flat Bench Partial ROM/Lockout training

50kg x 10

60kg x 6

65kg x 6 the 2.5kg plates looked like they've never been used so this was just a sympathy lift

70kg x 6, x5

Well, 70kg was a little heavier than expected which disappointed but ah well.  Was happy to find I didn't have to make much effort to maintain scapula position and there was no hint of shoulder protraction even at lockout.  Apparantly it's easier to maintain shoulder position when the back muscles and shoulder stabilisers aren't piss-weak.  Who would have thought...  Perhaps the lack of momentum is a factor too?  Will be interesting to see when I train full ROM next.

 

Still had a few minutes until closing so thought I'd better do some curls as the bi's are looking pretty stupid at this point.

 

Hammer Curls

12kg x 8 bored already

14kg x 6 x 3

Form wasn't a work of art but the eccentric was controlled and I just don't care.  Strict form BS weightx15x4 sounds like a recipe for suicide.  Must remember reverse grip BB rows though.  It's about time to introduce those.

 

Not sure on the food yet but 7 eggs just finished boiling.  PWO supps as previous.

[Kalidane]

Day 7

 

Seemed like more of a deadlift day than a squat day so starting with some rows.

 

BB Rows

40kg x 10

50kg x 8

60kg x 6, x 4   with form so bad in the final set I don't even know what muscles were being recruited, sooo

40kg x 10 x 2

It was only later that I realised those were meant to be underhand grip

 

 

Erectors were just too tight and fatigued for there to be much upside to pulling, and thus it was a Monday afterall!

 

DB Bench Press

12kg x 12

16kg x 12

Used the eccentric to get nice stretch at the bottom as a warm up.  Forearms getting too pumped so moved on.

 

Arnold Press

12kg x 8 x 3

I have no idea why I was seated for the first 2 sets.  Just bizarre.  Much better standing with tension from the glutes on up.

 

Flat Bench

40kg x 8

50kg x 8 x 2  woah that last rep was mighty close to a fail  wtf

40kg x 8 not feeling light anymore either

 

Despite coming into the session with plenty of tired bits, I had still expected a lot more than this.  With delts and lats tired or pre-fatigued, it was all a bit lame duck on the bench.

 

One of the gym guys suggested I have a couple of recovery days and get more sleep which sounded legit but I wasn't convinced.  Thinking about it later I realised why not - it's actually my ability to recover that I'm presently training.  The body will adapt and the process will involve some shitty grinding sessions like this one.  Teaching the body that it gets a day off if it complains to me is not what we're doing here.

 

Squats tomorrow.

 

Post Work Out eats: 2 McD Double Cheeseburgers, protein shake with oat bran, plus the wings, legs and almost half the body of a size 12 chicken

Cals:1462;  100C/59F/127   (plus the chicken)

 

[Kalidane]

Day 8

 

Alrighty, squat time.

 

Back Squat - all ATG

40kg x 10 x 2

50kg x 6 x 3  Had to enforce straight wrists.  The weight was easy as hell but I couldn't overcome the right leg performing all the concentric work.  I have to guess that too much tight or fatigued stuff is causing this compensation.

40kg x 10 x 2 speed reps.  Still seeing right-side dominance but it was fun work.  Probably makes for good warm up.  Must try this next time.

No point going heavy as the need for food and rest and stretching far outways the need for that.  All good as tomorrow is a planned rest day and I'm permanently moving training to mornings which will give me 3-4 more hours sleep before work i.e. doubling my rest on weekdays.  Big big mental note to use box squats for a while.  I'm sure I don't sit back so really the whole movement needs to be squared away before caring about weight.

 

Quick bis and tris for the guys as they've not been used in the past week.

 

DB Triceps Extension - cable station missing some bits so had to try this for first time

12kg x 12

16kg x 8 x 2

12kg x 8

Performed this standing and it was frickin' great.  While looking up the name of this exercise, I see that it is to be performed seated.  Lol okay exrx whatever you say bro.  Will play around with this a little to nail technique - a key here is controlling eccentric otherewise you have a dumbbell dropping on a vertabra.  No sign at all of angry shoulder syndrome so that's awesome.

 

Hammer Curl

12kg x 8 x 3

Eeep was outta puff and right f/arm was getting over-pumped and had some weird feels.  Had a few of those since the alternate grip rackpulls (supinated right for like 1 rep dammit!).

 

It appears that I have no choice but to stop supplementing with nicotine in the inhaled form, as it is clearly coming between me and what I want.  Ah well is was a great 19.5 years.

 

Post workout: Just a shake with oat bran at the park over the road from the gym.  How good.  Plenty more to come now the typing is finished

 

Protip:  When walking home from the gym, if you happen to scope out a smoking hot chick in a dress, don't look away and make a "holy shit!" face.  She can actually still see you, even though you aren't looking directly at her.  PS Call me, maybe?

[Kalidane]

Day 11

 

Only 90 minutes sleep Monday so the planned Tuesday off became two days off.

 

Planned to rock the rack pulls, but while I sat at work waiting to train I realised I never get to train shrugs when I'm fresh - only after deads have already smashed my grip.  Somehow that morphed into some kind of vertical push/pull day.  With shrugs appearing 3rd on the list lol

 

BNP

20kg x 10 x 3

25kg x 8, x6

More than last time and shoulders seem content.  The final one or two reps in the final 3 sets were sufficiently strenuous.  Over head pressing is still pretty detrained so there should be rapid development.  I couldn't help noticing how cute the bar was with 2.5kg weights on it lol.  I discovered they actually have BBs going up to 40kg or 50kg so I'll hang with them next time.

 

Arnold Press

12kg x 8

12kg x 6 x 3

hmmm Pretty sure I was doing 8 rep sets but this is what I have written down.  Anywho, lockout on final reps was sketchy but stuff wasn't wholly fresh so that's cool.

 

DB Shrug

24kg x 12 x 2

24kg x 10 x 3

20kg x 15 meant to be a lighter finishing set to failure but grip on left was busted

20kg x 20 x 2 with wraps

 

and lastly, a little something for the calves

Back Squats ATG

Bar x 20

40kg x 10 x 2

My first go at just the bar saw me fall backwards on my ass as I tried to sit back while at the bottom.  Luckily it was inches to the ground and just the bar so lulz were had.

 

Freakily, since leaving the gym my calves have been tweaking hard out.  Somehow the smart little buggars figured out the squats were for them.  I don't even...

 

Doing something with a PT tomorrow.  Really not sure about all that but I'll see if I can get something out of it.  Happy to just work on back squats with some guidance and continue to program the movement pattern.

 

[Kalidane]

Squats this morning with trainer.

 

Sorted out a whole bunch of back squat stuff including sitting back, knee tracking, figuring out the best depth to shoot for with current flexibility, and changing up the rep tempo.  Made use of the angled smith and BB which I'll repeat for a while as I grow accustomed to sitting back.

 

Squat session in future will be less like a teddy bears picnic, which I'm looking forward to.

 

Saturday off so may as well plan to eat, sleep and tan

 

All day numbahs: 3644 cals, 396C/106F/229P

 

[Kalidane]

Took Sunday off too and discovered hips and erectors were stupid tight.  Hadn't really shown up while I wasn't resting them.  So a few extra days rest and a bunch of stretching with a lot more ahead.  Shit be painful.

 

Deads Friday so other stuff today.  Supa-short rests.

 

Flat Bench

Bar x 12

40kg x 10

60kg x 8

60kg x 4 x 2

50kg x 8

50kg x 5

50kg x 4 pinned on final rep.  the bar didn't just stop going up, it just fell.  weird but lulz were had.

 

BNP

20kg x 8 way  harder than expected

20kg x 5 x 2 

couldn't tell if lat. delts or shoulder joint itself was feeling grumpy about it

 

Arnold Press

12kg x 5

8kg x 10 x 3

wow just toasted

 

DB Curls

8kg x 12 x 2

8kg x 8 x 2

 

DB Tricep Extension

12kg x 12

12kg x 8

faaarked

 

NG Lat. Pulldowns

14kg x 12

28kg x 10

35kg x 8 x 2

Need proper stirrups, not whatever the f*ck these toys are.

 

Only left an hour for sleep so Friday deads could be a thriller

[Kalidane]

Day 19

 

Deadlifts with trainer.

 

Only real issue was keeping back flat, expecially when fatigued.  Otherwise looking pretty legit.  That one hour of sleep seemed to leave me a bit weak though.

 

Introduced to SLDL for the first time and they freaking rock.  Unless I'm unable to walk to work tonight, in which case they are idiotic

 

Despite a fair few tight/sore bits in the post. chain prior to training, SLDL was comfy and left everything feeling great.  Pretty damned excited frankly.

 

I'm thinking that it seems to make sense to add SLDL to deads day and employ them when too knackered to maintain any semblance of form with the standard deadlift.  Feel free to shoutout if this is obviously foolish!

 

Tomorrow is a day off from the gym but if I can get enough calories at work tonight, there is no reason not to go in for rows/shrugs/etc.

[Kalidane]

Day 23

 

Elf needs food.

 

BB Rows

Bar x 12

40kg x 10

50kg x 8 x 2

40kg x 10 x 2

 

DB Squeeze Press

12kg x 10 x 4

 

DB Rows

20kg x 10 x 2

24kg x 8 x 2

 

Arnold Press

12kg x 10

12kg x 8 x 3

 

Sup. LPD

14kg x 10

28kg x 10

35kg x 10

28kg x 10

 

Hoped to get in shrugs but f/arms f/ucked.

 

Forgot to do 3-4 sets of light squats which sucked.  An okay cardio session anyways.

 

 

[Kalidane]

 

CBF with using facebook as a selfie-gallary so there she was

 

W = 164.8lbs (74.9kg)

H = unchanged at 178cm

 

Bunch of shoulder injuries lately so back to the physio; seems like progress but I've thought that before.

 

Training is mainly rows, rackpulls and deadlifts.  I like that meaty cushioning when sitting in my office chair.

Also: Squats 8 sets of 10 for cardio.  Physio/rehab stuffs.  I've introduced DB work as things have gotten unbalanced - rear delts and anything to do with scapular/shoulder stability.  Good progress early.

 

Goal is to get deadlifts to 200kg unequipped while under 80kg.  Grip the biggest obstacle but it's getting there.

 

Used the gym selfie-booth yesterday so I might as well:

 

 

 

 

[Realtalk]

Lean bro 

[AZIDE]

how much has weight changed since i saw you? and whats diet like?

[Kalidane]

Lean bro 

 

Chur *good*

 

how much has weight changed since i saw you? and whats diet like?

 

 

From memory +6kg in under 11 weeks.  Was 2kg heavier recently but everything looks 'better' now - defo most vascular I've been.  5-odd weeks of shoulder gripes really got in the way of lifting and so the diet really suffered.  Can't complain as it's not a bad point to build from and all that.

 

Getting back on that there peanut-butter sandwich time this week though and lifting again as physio and I have a good handle on what I can do without setbacks.  Back from Oz a couple of days ago with a plan for 4800 cals but not anywhere near that yet.

 

Managed 200kg rackpulls (+40kg PB) for doubles this morning and could pretty much do it all again now if I had the time so it is good lean gains as well as strength gains despite eating like a girl... I'll see what I can force down over the next 3 weeks.  Really want the deadlift to 200kg in July but even 180kg is looking tough.

[Pseudonym]

Dammit. I've been cutting and was happy with my progress until now. Must redouble efforts!

[Kalidane]

Dammit. I've been cutting and was happy with my progress until now. Must redouble efforts!

 

Hahahaha the trick is grain waves and wine gums.

 

Oh and heavy coffee/smokes stack.  Appetite suppression and it's cool as f*ck.  If you ain't spending $1k+ a month on that stack then you ain't doing it right.

 

Srs

[Kalidane]

Okay so the I've been reminded that the internet is awash with dietary bullshit and it's tiresome.  This experiment won't end that, but at least I'll get to wank on about it in response to future confrontations with dietetic inanity.

 

Gonna log daily what I eat, before pic is there already.  Will continue until I get bored and we'll see what happened.

 

I'm open to suggestions on 'bad' and 'unhealthy' foods.  This is all I'll be eating.  And bananas.  I'll be shopping for cheesecakes in a couple of hours.  We'll see if 'sugar is poison' 'sugar -> inflammation' 'carbs make you fat' 'wheat belly' 'carbs near bedtime make you fat' and all the rest can destroy me, or if, in fact, mythologised ass-hattery is a poor basis for interacting with the real world.  Blood tests if I care enough at the conclusion.

 

 

 

[Cameron_R]

I'm open to suggestions on 'bad' and 'unhealthy' foods. 

White bread toasted, with butter, peanut butter then topped with heaps of honey is pretty awesome.

[Dinahlady]

Canned mac n cheese pasta for dem gains. 

[Kalidane]

Canned mac n cheese pasta for dem gains. 

 

My god, that's in a can?  That's kinda handy at the office TBH.  I'll scope that out tomorrow