LizJ's Bulking Log

LiftingLizJ

I finished the first week of my new program today, so I figured might as well start my bulking log! I'm pleased with how doing an upper/lower split feels so far, especially since I feel I have more energy overall. But after doing 9 months of a stronglifts program, I have to say it feels really weird to do a lifting workout without squats! It was also a little bit of a mind **** to deload on my compound lifts, but I know the weights are going get hard again quickly.

On a whim, I weighed in this morning and saw I was only up a pound or so up from where I was before the holidays and I think some of that was water weight after I went to town on some buffalo wings and fries yesterday! Overall, I'm pleased and think I'm ready to start a slow and steady gain. I think I'll aim for 1900 cals for the rest of the week and step it up to 1950 starting Monday.

I'm really excited about finally committing myself to this bulk and would welcome any input or comments from more experience bulkers!

HMVOL7409

Wonderful job and welcome!

Have to ask though, hopefully I just read into it wrong. Do you mean with doing a workout with no squats meaning your upper day or are you not doing them at all???

LiftingLizJ

Yes, I meant the transition from 3 days of full body workout to an upper/lower split! One of my lower days is focused around the back squat and I'm doing front squats on my deadlift day but mentally I'm used to squatting three times a week and doing less feels weird.

yogaga1

First of all...you said the magic words...BUFFALO WINGS. Swooooon.

Secondly, I hear you about the squats! I moved on to Madcow 5x5 after a few rounds of Stronglifts and am working that out for the next few weeks before I move on to splits. Even though it's exhausting, I wasn't mentally prepared to not squat 3x a week yet- so Madcow it was. I have no valid reason for this. It just IS. Ha! Glad I'm not the only one who had a weird transition with that!

You're doing great so far! Enjoy your bulk!

pandorakick

I know what you mean, I also recently switched from 3x full body to an upper/lower split. The benefit I found that I have to wait less for the squat rack

HMVOL7409

You'll do great with the transition, no worries. I've never done either those programs so it's hard for me to imagine actually squatting 3 times a week; I have trouble doing it twice! I think you'll notice some positive aspects quickly.

TriLifter

I know what you mean, I also recently switched from 3x full body to an upper/lower split. The benefit I found that I have to wait less for the squat rack

Same here...except my gym is full of bros and most of them don't squat, so it's usually free :laugh:

LiftingLizJ

Glad others have felt the same way about the transition from full body to a split. I agree that not being a slave to the squat rack at the beginning of every workout is a relief!

I just finished Week 2 of my program, and I'm still enjoying the split. Next week is back to heavy weights for low reps on the 4 main lifts although the weight is still below where I was comfortably before. I'm interested to see how those feel after the past two weeks of lighter weight for more reps. I also happy with the progress I'm making on my accessory work. Some of those exercises were new to me, so I'm still trying to feel out both form and weight for those.

I was 2 pounds down on my weigh-in this morning. I'm not worried though because it's within the range I was bouncing within before and I think my weight might have been a little artificially inflated by the holidays last week. I'm going to stick with the increase of 50 calories a week for a little longer and then reassess. I'll take measurements next week at the end of my first workout cycle for curiosity's sake even though it' way to early to see much progress.

I've been less then perfect with my food intake but I've tried to not to get under 100 calories of my goal. I also know I have a couple of big meals coming up this weekend which should even things out!

LiftingLizJ

I realized I hadn't updated in a while!

One cycle and a week in, I still like my split but some of the weights are starting to get heavy in the hypertrophy range. I think I'm going to start hitting a weird phase where I continue to progress regularly with reps in strength range but my progression slows way down in the other weeks of the cycle.

I weighed in and measured this week and my weight seems to be holding steady. The past two weeks I've been wildly uneven with my intake- first a mini vacation led to me being way over for a few days, then I immediately got sick and though I could workout I had trouble eating up to my BMR let alone my bulking intake numbers. Things have settled down now and I think my current intake is around my TDEE so I'm going to keep adding 50 cals a week until I finally start to gain!

pandorakick

Sounds like a plan!

HMVOL7409

Ugh for illness! Great plan though and keep it up!

LiftingLizJ

Figured it was time for another update. Six weeks in, I've definitely hit a low period emotionally for my bulk. I'm back at college and while I know I'm much more active than I was at home and that's probably raised my TDEE a bit, I'm struggling a little bit mentally being without my food scale and having to make a lot of guestimates about my intake. I also only have access to the scale at my gym, so I won't be able to weigh in under ideal conditions but I know I'll have to bite the bullet and just track the overall trend. I think I still have a bit of a former fat girl mentally, and I'm a little worried that seeing a decent sized increase will send me running back into cutting mode.

I've also hit a point in my routine where improvements are going to come much more slowly. I know this is natural and not necessary a bad thing but sometime it gets hard to ignore the nagging voice in my head that I'm not really doing enough to justify eating more.

I'm trying my hardest to push through those doubts and some occasional feelings of fluffiness which I'm sure are 100% in my head.I'm going to try my hardest to get as close to my intake of 2000 as I can and then decide next week if I want to up another 50 cals. I've still got about 6 more weeks before I re-*kitten* my goals and I've spun my wheels around this for too long to back down now!