Sophos9 - Rapid Body Converstion

[Sophos9]

Alright, so today was legs and shoulder. After the first squats I was done in although I was squating no weight at all

Squats - 3 x 10 x 44lbs
Military Press - 3 x 8 x 44lbs
Leg Press - 3 x 8 x 154lbs
Lateral Raises (standing) - 3 x 8 x 22lbs
Leg Extensions - 3 x 8 x 110lbs
Dumbbell Front Press - 3 x 8 x 22lbs
Adductor's - 3 x 8 x 99lbs
Hip Conditioner - 3 x 8 x 110lbs

Experiencing little if no DOMS which is great, cant wait until next so I can move up some weight :

[Sophos9]

Ah... and here are some body stats all in inches

Neck....17
Biceps..15
Chest...43
Gut......42.5
Legs....22.5

[Sophos9]

Well its that time of the week, time to check progress against objectives

Nutritional Supplements:
Whey Protein
Creatine (loading stage complete)
Flaxseed Oil
1000mg Vit C

Nutrition (Macro nutrients as a percentage of 40/40/20, target of 2015)
Average kcal intake - 2016 (1622)
Average Protein - 92% (94)
Average Carbs - 115% (113)
Average Fat - 112% (112)

Weeks Changes in KG (Previous Weeks in brackets)
Weight - 93 (92.2)
BF% - 21.5
Lean Muscle Mass - 73 (73.1)
Bodyfat - 20 (19.7)

So what does it all mean? Well my calorie intake is spot, just a bit more of a push in the protein dept.

How are things feeling and looking? Well, the data above does not back this up however there are a few noticeable developments, nothing to write home about but hell, its my first proper week back.

The figures above are distorted due to the bio-elec fat measurement, when I previously wrote a journal it was up and down but over time averaged out ok. I'm keeping a record of body measurements as a secondary measure...

Looking forward to next week, saw some good gains on chest and tri's so going to be pushing the weights up

Happy? Yea for sure... think I need to vary my diet more and not 100% confident in the way I arrived at my target calories (think I over-complicated things)

Any comments welcome... :

[gcs118]

I'm sure a lot of your strength will be back in the first few months, muscle memory can be phenomenal. I'm not sure what else you do, but I'd think 2000 calories a day is too low. That's usually for BMR if you don't work out, but from what I see you plan to increase average calorie intake weekly, which isn't a bad plan. Your numbers should go up a lot, and even more when you drop to say 3x6 instead of 3x8 or 3x10. Keep it up!

[Sophos9]

Hi mate, thanks for the feedback. Working things out, my BMR is about 2697 plus say about 300kcal for working in out in the gym (128kcal daily average) so 2825 would be a good start. As I've been fairly badly behaved for the last 3 years I'm certain my metabolism has wound right down so I'm going to try and add an additional 100 daily calories per week until I get to my target (and am not putting on loads of fat)

How things are going, I anticipate another 3 weeks of higher reps then will drop them down and go for weight

When I hit 176lbs lean muscle mass and 14% body fat I'm awarding myself with a phat tattoo on my back....

[Sophos9]

Tonights back and biceps went well, kicked up some of the weights and finished with some killa abs... (last weeks in brackets)

Deadlifts - 3 x 10 x 99lbs (88lb)
Pulldown- 3 x 8 x 121lb (99lb)
Seated Rows - 3 x 10 x 121lb (99lb)
Dumbbell Curls - 3 x 10 x 42.9lbs (33lb)
Inclined Dumbbell Curls - 3 x 10 x 33lb (22lb)
Abs - 3 x 10 x 154lbs (121lb)

As you can see, weights are going up.... I feel a bit numb at the minute :

[Maxgain]

Good work!

Wouls think you couls drop 2 sets of curls though you are working arms enough

[Sophos9]

Hey Maxgain, thanks for the praise!

I was thinking that last week so had some thoughts around changing the curls to hammer curls and keeping the decline....?

My biceps are longer than the norm and seem not to want to grow that much.

I would like to have well shaped biceps, do you have any suggestions on how to grow them or would you cut out that volume?

Many thanks...

[gcs118]

Your biceps get hit hard with heavy back work. It's kinda like when you bench press and do shoulder presses, the triceps get hit pretty hard. Most people add extra tricep work because it is a larger muscle than the bicep. I do about 1 set of 10 for biceps each week. If you're just starting back and you enjoy 2 exercises at 3x10 for biceps, you might as well continue if you are seeing progress. Cutting volume is a good idea when progress stops.

[Maxgain]

Originally Posted by Sophos9

My biceps are longer than the norm and seem not to want to grow that much.

Try 2/3 sets 6 reps as heavy as you can go perfect form full concentration and this should be sufficient to stimulate.

If not growing still give arms a day of their own to hit as heavy as you can but still limited sets ie finished bis and tris max half an hour

[etothepii]

Nice workouts! I'm do full body routines too. What ab work are you doing -- cable crunches? Are some of the weights you list(military oress, for example) for dumbbells?

[Sophos9]

Cheers all for the Bicep pointers, will sort something for Monday and post it up.

etothepii, abs work is done on a weight chair crunch and yep, military press is dumbbells along with bench, biceps etc... How are your splits coming on?

[Sophos9]

Alright, chest and tri's again... have been feeling good so wanted some breakthroughs again this week and hell, I got some!!

Bench Press - 3 x 10 x 88lbs (88lbs)
Dips - 3 x 6 x 184.8lbs (173.8lbs)
Bench Flies - 3 x 8 x 55lbs (55lbs)
Pushdowns - 3 x 10 x 66lbs (33lbs)
Dumbbell Pullovers - 3 x 8 x 50lbs (38.5lbs)
Tricep Pullovers - 3 x 8 x 44lbs (33lbs)
No Abs today- 3 x 10 x (121lbs)

Looks like my chest and/or supporting muscles need some more strengh but my tri's are styling! My triceps used to build really well so I'm happy this is still happening!!

Back is aching today because of the Monday deadlifts... :

[etothepii]

How are your splits coming on?

I'm in post 5s of an HST cycle, so I'm doing all I can to keep increasing the weight I'm lifting. I've pretty much stalled, so I'll probably deload soon, and ramp up again.

[Sophos9]

Ok, in my confession box now...

I mentioned earlier in this thread that I'm not happy with calories and the way I have worked them out, felt like I was eating all day... Anyway, I have this elaborate spreadsheet that works out everything, all this monkey has to do is put a star next to the food consumed that day.... easy huh?

Well it is! Apart from when I added a new row at some time, its then knocked all the calculations out of sequence so my calories have not been true!

I think I've been going over my target, not by a dramatic amount.... so all is adjusted now and lets see how it rolls......!