Rookie: Road to rippedness and first comp

[Rookie]

Hey guys, as you may know my last journal was a shit one.

My whole outlook has changed. My life goal and training goal is to get big and strong- 100kg and beyond. Not too concerned about bf as long as I build a lot of muscle and am strong thats what matters to me the most atm.

A few facts about my current training:

Stats: 83kg

BF% around 21%

Height: 5ft6

At ESBB, training with a British Jnr powerlifting champ who is competing in bodybuilding this weekend. Pushes me hard and is prob one of the strongest guys in the gym. Training has been strength and size based: 5-10 reps for upper body and hammys. Quads has been a mix of both low and high rep.

This week I am training with a different guy since my tp is depleting for his show.

Training with my mentor/coach who is prob one of the strongest powerlifters in the country. Had a chest session with him tonight which looked like:

Incline BB: 60x10, 60x10, 60x8, 70x5, 60x8, 70x5, 60x10, 60x8, 70x5, 60x10

Flat DB press: 15x12 (warm up), 20x10, 25x10, 27.5x8

Decline machine press: 20x8, 20x8, 20x8

Tricep rope pushdown: 10x10- on 42kg

Overhead rope extension: 10x10-on 30kg

Best session IMO, constant work, just training related talk (ROM and form etc)

Good pump and getting used to all this volume too.

Diet is usually 3 carb and protein meals- breakfast, pre and post w/o

3 fat and protein meals, morning tea, lunch and 2nd dinner

Cheers guys, will def keep up to date with this one!!!!!

Rookie aka next off season Lee Priest Jnr :pfft:

[Rookie]

Today was back: Just went through the paces and for the feel. Mad pump and lats were very very sore by the end.

Neutral grip pulldowns: 10x120, 10x120, 8x130, 8x130, 6x140, 6x140

Seated rows: 48x8, 48x8, 54x5, 54x5,

Hammer strength rows: 35x10, 35x10, 40x8, 40x8

Behind neck pulldowns: 80x10, 80x10, 80x10

Range of motion on all exercises was good. Got a hell of a stretch in the lats on all exercises. Good that I'm also picking up new things as I go along, guess that's the good thing of training with a veteran. Was taught to let the weights pull your lats and stretch them hard. Will def get some growth out these sessions, best back session ever.

Strength wise I'm quite surprised as my training partner told me to use a weight and I didnt think I could do it but surely enough I did. Its funny how powerful the mind is.

So that was today's session and am ready for tomorrow's war on the posterior chain..

Rookie

[TonganTerror]

good start rookie having someone stronger than you to train with is awesome call me selfish but I went through about 6 panzies before training with the guy I have been for the last year he is much stronger than me so Im always having to be at my best its great :grin:

bro I know you said you want to be 100kg but if your bf is 20 odd % you dont really want it to get any higher than that I wouldnt think so maybe keep that in mind when sorting your eats :-)

[AgentOrange]

yeah i would keep tabs on that BF. Personally id go down before going back up. Start with a blank canvas so to speak, you call but.

Good luck :wink:

[genetic freek]

How do you know your bodyfat?

[TonganTerror]

How do you know your bodyfat?

look in the mirror if your chin hanging on your chest you fat auw :pfft: :pfft:

[genetic freek]

Who cares bout bf, bulk hard, throw some cardio in. Aim to gain muscle.

[TonganTerror]

Who cares bout bf, bulk hard, throw some cardio in. Aim to gain muscle.

yes but if the guy is only 83kg at 22%bf then he hasnt got much mass to start with and needs to focus on bulking sensibly to gain mass not fat wouldnt you agree GF

[genetic freek]

No I would not sorry. First off he like 5ft? So will have some mass. I have allways been of the opinion that if you want to be big (which in this case its all he cares about) then wasting time cutting or trying to stay lean, is exactly that - a waste of time. IMO bulk and put as much muscle on as poss.

[TonganTerror]

good mass is not fat though is it????

[TonganTerror]

I mean your pretty much saying go forth eat as much as you can get to your desired weight anyway possible it doesnt matter how you get to 100kg as when you get there its goal accomplished what a load of shit

[genetic freek]

No ball bag what I am saying is do what you have to to gain the muscle. if thats your goal then do what you have to do. If that means gaining fat then so be it. The goal is to gain. So what if your fat? After you gain the muslce then lean out if thats what you want to do. Or lean out before you have muslce hmm.

[TonganTerror]

ok sack so your saying put on muscle just as I am saying but your advocating putting on more fat than he is already carrying so hes 22% now and so by sticking to your rule of thumb when he gets to 100kg he could be well over 30% bf Thats no fucken good for anyone especially not himself.

Rookie back to original thought of mine watch your BF bro if you end up 30% BF your metabolism be slow as shit and you wont feel very good at all ......

[thatwaslight]

no point putting on unnecessary fat if you dont have too, it will have to come off in the end and with it ultimately some mass too. It is easy enough to stay relatively lean and add mass, you don't need to turn into a fat c*nt to add muscle

[Rookie]

Ok guys guys guys the discussion has started without me!!

I know TT and AO are trying to give me advice based on my bf..

GF: I get it done by a BIA machine-electro impulse on lower and upper body while lying on a bench, muscle conducts electricity fat doesnt.

OK guys: My main goals are as stated- SIZE and STRENGTH- not worried about bf atm. Heck- my coach is prob high 20's almost 30 and is the strongest guy I've ever met: 300+ squat, 300+ dead and 200 raw bench.

There's a guy at the gym who was exactly like me when he started out- he ballooned up to 127kg in 3yrs and is now 112kg and lean. Like GF said, build muscle, cut later.

I don't wanna end up in a vicious cycle of bulk/cut- get nowhere fast.

Like one of my other mentors said: "you train to get big and strong, not small and weak"

I have a powerlifting meet in 9 weeks and aim to be under 90 but round 88-90 on the dot. I know if my strength goes up size will follow.

A days eat is:

M1 70g oats, 150ml milk, 40g protein powder

M2 200g beef, 100g broccoli- 2tbsp olive oil

M3 200g chicken, broccoli same as above

M4 pre w/o 300g kumara and chop chop ( big can) with a shake to bump up protein

M5 post w/o creamed rice and a shake

M6 usually slow carbs with a shake

M7 cottage cheese and olive oil

So in the end: I do want to get big and strong plus look like I lift weights

[Dr Squat]

Good to see you are working hard Rookie. A good mate of mine says;

"Never miss a workout. Never miss a meal".

Pretty solid advice. Don't complicate things.

[Dr Squat]

Heck- my coach is prob high 20's almost 30 and is the strongest guy I've ever met: 300+ squat, 300+ dead and 200 raw bench.

Fat bastard lol

[Rookie]

Good to see you are working hard Rookie. A good mate of mine says;

"Never miss a workout. Never miss a meal".

Pretty solid advice. Don't complicate things.

Cheers mate, sounds like I've heard that before..

Yeah I would rather be as strong as I look, which is what I'm going for.

Haha he's not fat, just got a big ab muscle from all the squatting.

[Mike Zero]

Eeesh 112 lean, this guy sounds skuxxx as faaaaark.

[Rookie]

:pfft: hahaha yeah he checks himself out in the mirror quite a bit. Gets the mad road map veins going though. MZ what your opinion on this debate? Would be good to have your take

[Mike Zero]

I think you should not worry about putting on x amount of kgs, just focus on getting stronger and don't force the weight gain too much. I regret putting on weight as quickly as I did, wasted a lot of time cleaning myself up where I could have been gaining slow and steady. Don't try and lose any weight for the next couple of years at least, just slow bulk/maintain for that time & aim to get stronger every week. This doesn't mean you have to get any fatter though over the course of that. And, as GF said cut to what? IMO you have to be pretty experienced with training/eating to do a successful cut without losing a ton of muscle.

Also you should add carbs to M2 & M3, even if just a small amount. Drop the olive oil, you don't need it esp with beef. You want to build up some carbs in your system before training. Add in olive oil in your early meals later on if you need it to get in extra calories but I think that's a long way away... Focus on building up your carbs first. Eat clean & consistent and not too much junk food and you'll be sweet.

[Rookie]

Cheers bro, yeah really appreciate your input. Yeah I've goals to hit a 200kg deadlift by the club 3 lift and a 140-160 squat with a 110-120 bench.

Yeah that helps heaps, well I don't eat crap during the week. I took the coaches advice on a cheat on day on Saturday "eat as much as possible, and whatever in 24hrs"- didn't know if he was joking or not.

That's the thing, all my goals are strength related till I actually build some decent size. I'll do that then, drop the olive oil and up the carbs with M1 and M2. I know you're saying not to force the weight on, but I'll listen to you. The coaches advice of creamed rice and shakes seems to be working :pfft: strength has gone up since training with Ben.

[Phedder]

I'm gonna chime in here as it seems pretty open at the moment. Gaining weight doesn't have to be gaining fat. Yes it is quite hard to get sufficient muscle gain without concurrent fat gain, but if you're smart about it and keep on top of your diet and weight gain, it should be possible to maintain the same bf% or if you're lucky even lower it. When you think about it bf% is exactly that, a percentage. If you manage to increase your total body weight, by mostly adding muscle the percentage of your body fat will decrease, even if the actual fat mass increases slightly. For example;

18.26kg fat, 64.74kg lean body mass = current 22% at 83kg

20.26kg fat and 74.74kg muscle = 21% at 95kg

Even though he's gained 2kg of fat, when you take into account the 10kg muscle gain he's actually lowered his bf% (minimally I know) But the point is that he can reach his goal without increasing his bf% at all or very little. It'd be difficult and probably inhibit strength gains slightly which is counter productive but just wanted to get that out there.

Personally I'd think doing a quick cut after your meet would be beneficial as higher bf can increase testosterone conversion to estrogen, so getting that down before going full blown into training could actually help strength and muscle gain via slightly increased testosterone.

Didn't intend to write that much but hey shit happens :pfft: Whatever way you go about it I wish you all the best and hope your weights keep climbing :nod:

[genetic freek]

ok sack so your saying put on muscle just as I am saying but your advocating putting on more fat than he is already carrying so hes 22% now and so by sticking to your rule of thumb when he gets to 100kg he could be well over 30% bf Thats no fucken good for anyone especially not himself.

Rookie back to original thought of mine watch your BF bro if you end up 30% BF your metabolism be slow as shit and you wont feel very good at all ......

Yup, and he states he don't care about bf-hence my advice. YOu know you are getting enough cals in if you are gaining fat. Not everyone likes to stay lean so they can have a vein in their forarm and use it as their avitar.

[Rookie]

Thanks Phedder for the wishes bro. I'm gonna have to take Mike Zero and GF's advice as it fits in to what I'm aiming to do. I get ya about the whole aromatase thing, I'm sure I won't get to the stage where I'll need a bra :pfft:

GF: You are right bro, not gonna balloon up but as I said yes overall size is my main objective and no concern with BF% as long as strength goes up