Thread: Warren1987's Training Journal

Right then, it's a long time since I've had a training thread and thought it was about time to rekindle what I'm upto...

Currently bulking and I plan on doing this right the way through to March where I'll then begin the gruelling summer cut. This bulk has a bit of a difference and I'm probably going to get my arse shot down for this but I'm not counting calories. Why you ask??? Well this year I'm trying not to overthink what I'm doing, in the past I've put so much emphasis on I have to eat 4000calories a day or more that I've ended up not taking notice of what actually matters, my shape in the mirror. You could say I'm winging it a little this year but so far so good, I've been at it for 4 weeks and I'm 13lbs heavier than when I started and looking good. I have a few general rules which are as follows:

1) Eat Clean: this is paramount, if it's not clean I won't gain lean. My diets are always very very clean anyway but rule number one for success is this.

2) Keep my abs: I've worked so hard through summer to gain some good definition in my abdomen that I don't want that to simply fade away through fat gain. Something I've never been a fan of through bulking is cardio but I've religiously stuck to 10-15minutes after every session depending on what I've been training and so far I'm gaining but not getting a massive belly.

3) Enjoy it: Every year I've gone through the turmoil of shovelling bland chicken and rice down my face and thinking I'm not enjoying this, I don't want to eat that. So, this year aswell as keeping the diet clean I'm adding variety to keep it flavourful using plenty of seasonings and condiments to make my food taste scrummy so I actually look forward to eating it as opposed to dreading my next meal.

Below is a typical days diet and then in brackets is what I add in on a training day:

DIET:

1) 25g oats, 1 banana, 2 scoops whey, 1tbsp smooth peanut butter, crushed ice, water (+35g oats, +1tbsp smooth peanut butter)

2) wholemeal wrap, 160g turkey, salad, drizzle of extra light mayo (+40g turkey)

3) same as meal 2

4) 2scoops whey, 25g oats, 1tbsp evoo oil (+35g oats)

5) 200g salmon, 140g vegetable cous-cous (+1 banana)

6) ***POST WORKOUT*** 250g sirloin steak, 4 whole eggs, 140g vegetable cous-

7) 2 scoops whey, 300ml water.

The above is a typical day and due to the nature of my job and not really having the time to sit and eat a meal I'll have shakes with oats and wraps which can be consumed in a couple of minutes. It's something I've always found very hard to do with work but a wrap is very quick and easy to eat and quite filling as is a shake loaded with oats.

Supplements wise I've not gone insane I'm using BBW premium whey and BBW excel as a pre and intra workout. Currently looking for a BCAA product to stack with the other two but that's pretty much it. It's not a supplement heavy diet but seems to be working for me so far so if it aint broke why fix it?

TRAINING:

I'm currently doing a 4 day split which consists of:

1) Chest/Abs
2) Back/Forearms
3) Shoulders/Abs
4) Legs/Arms

If I can't get into the gym 4 times a week I add shoulders into my back workout, it's all work dependant but so far I'm hitting 4 times a week very comfortably. I'm periodising my workouts weekly, something I've never tried before so my 4 day split rolls into a 3 week programme:

W1: 6reps
W2: 8reps
W3: 10reps

I'm finding this is working as in the first week of training I'm lifting some big numbers. This then drives me to try and do the same for 8 reps and the final week is really concentrating on squeezing the muscle and also acts as a bit of a rest from heavy weights ready for the cycle to start again. I've always believed in changing the rep ranges every 3-4 weeks but again I'm enjoying the change each week and have seen it as a bit of a challenge to try and lift just as heavy but for more reps.

Ab's are something I always neglect on a bulk purely because in previous years I've just rammed food down my throat, got nice and big but then had to work super hard come dieting time. My theory is if I can keep hold of a strong mid section when it comes to dieting I'll be able to get shredded alot quicker and it shouldn't take me half as long as it usually does. As long as my weight increases by 2-3lbs per week and my mid section stays strong it's a win win.

Cardio. Something I absolutely hate with a passion and if I'm honest just don't do enough of even when I'm dieting. I'm doing cardio through my bulk for a couple of reasons. One, to try and get me into a good routine of doing it so come dieting time it's not so much of a chore as it is a routine that will just increase during a period of weight loss. Secondly, I don't want to end up like santa come December weighing inat 225lbs but at 30% bodyfat. I find it very easy to gain weight but at the same time my body loves to store fat so I'm hoping with regular cardio it will prevent the massive fat gain I seem to get every year and keep me leanish which in turn makes dieting that little bit easier.

As ever guys any pointers or criticisms are welcome, I love the hoensty on the forum and I'm not afraid to tweak things and switch things up if it comes with a decent explanation as to why I should. I'll periodically update my training and occasionally throw in some update photo's so Andrea has more men to drool over

Thanks for looking guys, stay tuned.......

-MONDAY TRAINING-

LEGS/FOREARMS:

Incline Leg Press:
12@80kg, 6@160kg, 6@200kg, 6@220kg, 6@230kg (weights not including the weight sled, no idea how much it weighs to be honest)

Hamstring Curls:
6@10kg, 6@15kg, 6@20kg, 6@22.5kg, 6@20kg

DB Lunges:
6@10kg, 6@15kg, 6@17.5kg, 6@20kg (hate lunges!!!!)

Seated Calf Raise:
6@25kg, 6@45kg

Standing Calf Raise:
10@100kg, 6@180kg, 6@220kg, 6@240kg

Forearm Curls:
10@15kg, 6@30kg, 6@40kg, 6@50kg, 4@55kg

20minutes cardio on the stationery bike, workout done

-TUESDAY TRAINING-

CHEST:

Flat DB Press:
10@30kg, 8@37.5kg, 8@42.5kg, 7@45kg, 4@45kg (pissed I couldn't get 8 with 45kg!!!)

Cable Crossover:
8@15kg, 8@20kg, 8@25kg, 8@25kg

Reverse Cable Crossover: (bottom to top)
8@15kg, 8@20kg, 8@25kg, 8@25kg

Decline Bench Press:
8@80kg, 8@90kg, 8@90kg, 4@90kg (shoulder gave up on the last set so I called it a day with that.)

Tricep Dips:
8@BW, 8@BW, 8@BW, 6@BW

15minutes cardio on the stationery bike, workout done.

Will be following Chubby!! Best of luck. x

Any comments on the diet dude greatly appreciated, looks good to me but that's just me dude

Looks fine mate...id be tempted to not have crushed ice though...can't remember where I read, but ice cold water can kill certain enzymes in your stomach..i'll have to dig out where i found it.

Maybe add something to your last meal....if its just whey then either some skimmed milk/casein/cottage cheese/nuts/evoo?

Also...you thought about using Essential amino acids...10g of them is like having 40g of protein or something...so personally if you could i'd add in 10g EAA + 10g Glutamine before meal 1 and meal 4....then maybe see if you can get some BCAA's during training?

i know its budget dependant.
What whey are you using?

Ahh just read your using Excel...fair enough...id have 30-40g of that during training mate... and then add in the eaa's if you can. to make the excel better you could take some vitamin b6 to help as its suppose to increase the efficiency of the uptake of the aminos or something..and also add extra leucine to it.

BBW whey..its ok...i love the flavour..but just whey is only ideal really for pwo...ish, id personally much rather see say half BBW Whey and half BBW Casein in each shake.

Thought about getting some isolate for post workout or maybe adding it into my excel intra-workout. I'll have a look into EAA's today and had toyed with the idea of having milk in my last meal of the day but all the sugar content put me off. Might have to go back down the whey and fromage frais route, will have a think today.

Looks great Warren, this is the sort of thing I hope to do once I have cut up, as in relax a bit more about it all. I really think that way I will enjoy it more, although it still looks like you have thought about your diet a fair bit but that I guess just comes from experience. I would say your carbs are a bit low for a bulk, but then I know you prefer having much higher protein and lower carbs, and actually that will probably keep you leaner.

I have been doing some reading on the Paleo diet, and I will be trialing it myself at some point (getting close, just holding onto my oats). From what I've read by eating like we used to you basically get all the nutritents you need, the only supplementation that you might decide on is like added glutamine, omega 3s, HMB and creatine. But due to the nature of the diet you get a lot of glutamine from the meats, lots of omega 3 from fish if you have it and loads of fibre, multivitamins etc. from the non starchy vege. Basically in our case its all about meaty salads, nuts and fruit. I am dubious about fruit and still only eat it in the morning, and around workouts, although the sugar/carb is fructose which is slow digesting...so eating fruits for carbs could potentially be fine any time of the day?? Not sure. Sorry for going off on one there! Oh the book also recommends added carbs around workouts coming from high gi sources- malto etc. but thats because its a paleo diet for athletes not just a paleo diet.

Sorry to bore you there! Still munching on many crispy creams and soda for cheats?

Dont add whey to EAA's!! Both compete with each other!

You want a STEADY influx of amino acids, not a big dump of them and nothing. A piece of steak or chicken is leaching out amino's into your blood for 8-14+ hours. Casein 6-7, whey, 1-2. Do you REALLY think you are synthesizing that much muscle tissue in 1-2 hours. Because that is what you are trying to do with whey. It is very insulingenic also.

THAT is the short answer--believe what you will, but whey is a CRAP protein for anything except PWO, OR, to add to a WHOLE FOOD MEAL. As a meal replacement the way most people use them, it just leads to an epic failure for most lifters.