Mike's workout journal

[Mike-C]

Alright.... here's a little background info. I'm 6'1'' and weigh 170 pounds. My goal is to gain mass and strength. I am going to list my meals and my workout from now until who knows when... that will probably be tomorrow when I realize how lazy I am. So here it goes:

MEALS-

Meal 1- Quaker oatmeal (2 packets) w/ water
glass of milk.

Meal 2- 3 cups of Chicken Breast (meat only) w/ one sauteed tomato
2 cups of white rice w/ soy sauce

Meal 3- 2 slices of wheat bread
6 oz. of tuna
1 tbsp. of light mayo
a touch of tabasco sauce

Meal 4- 2 bananas
1 avocado
glass of milk

Meal 5- 18 oz. of steak
2 cups of rice w/ soy sauce

TOTALS:
CALORIES- 5111
CARBS- 417
FATS- 220
PROTEINS- 356

* I got this info off of GNC.COM in the Fitness Planner section.


Weight Training-

Flat bench press - 3x8 @ 185 #'s
Incline bench press- 3x8 @ 165 #'s
Decline bench press- 3x8 @ 165 #'s
Cable cross-overs- 3x8 @ 80 #'s
Dips- 2x5, 1x3 1/2 @ body weight
Pushdowns- 3x8 @ 90 #'s

There it is. I was supposed to eat 4 eggs this morning as well but I woke up late and didn't have time. Please give me feedback on what you think of either my diet or my lifting.

[maverick]

5000+ calories! Man, I thought I was high with 4000+. Are you just blindly trusting the GNC site or do you know your body well enough to eat that many calories? Are you gradually increasing to that level? When I was doing 2-a-days I'd get as high as 4200 calories a day, but that was really pushing it. I put on 29 pounds (162->191) in about 11-12 weeks this summer never going over 4200. Be careful or you'll be adding A LOT of fat.

I'm very surprised at your weights listed. 185x8 on the bench but only 0x5 on dips at a bodyweight of 170. Seems like the dips have some catching up to do. You aren't a bench jockey are you? What do the rest of your workouts look like?

[KaiserSose]

Those five meals really add up to 5000 calories?! hmm...I've never really counted my own calories but if you amassed 5000 calories by eating that, then I possibly may be taking in even more now. Anyways, nice bench pressing; I would as well like to see what the rest of your routine is like.

[Mike-C]

maverick- I'm a hard gainer. I've tried taking in about 4000 calories before and it took me about a month-and-a-half to two months to gain five pounds. I'm very active so it takes me awhile to gain weight. I run two miles just about every morning (I'm in the military) and I play basketball after work. Plus I lift later on in the evening. I just use the GNC site to gauge how much I take in. I know it's not 100 percent accurate but it gives me a baseline. And no i'm not a bench jockey, I also do a lot of push ups in the morning. My upper body is in decent shape strength-wise.

KaiserSose- the 5000+ calories are mostly made up of the meats I eat (no homo) especially the steak.

Here's the rest of my routine for those of you that are interested...

Mon- chest and tris
Tues- legs and shoulders
Wed- back and bis
Thur- chest and tris
Fri- legs and shoulders
Sat- back and bis
Sun- rest

Chest and tri's-

Flat bench press - 3x8
Incline bench press- 3x8
Decline bench press- 3x8
Cable cross-overs- 3x8
Dips- 3 sets 'till failure
Pushdowns- 3x8
skullcrushers- 3x8 (adding these next workout)

Legs and shoulders-

Squats- 3x8
Leg ext.- 3x8
Leg curls- 3x8
calf raises- 3x15
Lateral raise- 3x8
Front raise- 3x8
Shoulder press- 3x8

Back and bis-

Dumbell row- 3x8
Seated cable row- 3x8
Pulldowns- 3x8
Concentration curl- 3x8
preacher curl- 3x8

Any recommendations are appreciated.

I thought I should add this...

GOALS-
200 lbs.
>10% body fat
Bench- < 250 lbs
Squat- < 350 lbs.

[tim_mcf]

deadlifts and pullups

[Mike-C]

Thanks Tim

[Mike-C]

I've gotten off to a bad start on this workout plan. I've had the flu these past three days. I've had no energy and couldn't eat anything. I haven't workout at all since Thursday night. Hopefully things will be back on track tomorrow.

Can't work it hard if you can't eat. Rest, get enough fluids, and eat what you can so you will get well and be able to work out effectively again.

Good luck with it.

[Mike-C]

I didn't eat as much as I wanted to yesterday. I'm still not feeling 100 percent. I really felt it when I was lifting. I only took in 2000 calories yesterday and my lifts where little down from last week. Here are my lifts:

Flat bench press - 3x8 @ 165 #'s
Incline bench press- 3x6 @ 135 #'s
Decline bench press- 3x6 @ 135 #'s
Cable cross-overs- 3x8 @ 70 #'s
Dips- 1x7 1x6 1x4 1x2.5 @ body weight
Pushdowns- 3x8 @ 80 #'s

As you can see, everything went down. The good news is that my dips improved a little bit.

[Mike-C]

Alright... I just weighed my self. I am now up to 177.5 pounds. Before I started my current diet I fluctuated from 168 lbs. to 172 lbs. So, I gained at least 5.5 pounds since starting this diet two weeks ago. I'm proud of myself.

[Mike-C]

I'm still not feeling too well, but I'm getting better. I'm still not eating as much as I would like to or lifting as hard as I would like to. Here are todays workout:

Squats- 2x8 1x6 @ 265 lbs.
Leg ext.- 3x8 @ 80 lbs.
Leg curls- 3x8 @ 60 lbs.
calf raises- 3x15 @ 120 lbs.
Lateral raise(dumbells)- 3x8 @ 20 lbs.
Front raise(dumbells)- 3x8 @ 20 lbs.
Shoulder press(dumbells) - 3x8 @ 55lbs.

[tim_mcf]

Nice big squats. I hope you're going down to parallel.

[Mike-C]

of course.

[Mike-C]

didn't get a chance to workout due to me working late.... there's nothing like a 17-hour day!

[Mike-C]

Today was chest and tris-

Flat bench press - 3x8 @ 185 #'s
Decline bench press- 3x8 @ 185 #'s
Incline bench press- 3x8 @ 155 #'s
Dips- 1x9 1x6 1x4 1x2 1/2 @ body weight
Pushdowns- 3x8 @ 90 #'s