SilentDrapeRunners Log
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I came to the same conclusion re: cutting anymore would be counterproductive to my goals. I'm glad we'll be bulking together again!0
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Lost a tiny bit this past week (little less than 1/2 a lb), but I still think I'm hovering around the low end of maintenance. Raising cals up to 1900. That should be in the middle-high end of maintenance. During and after bulk #1, I determined my maintenance range to be 1850-2000, so I'm expecting to definitely see gains at 2000, because I'm sure my metabolism is depressed a tiny bit after cutting (but hopefully not too much).
I think I'm going to try something a little different with my macros for bulk #2. For bulk #1, my protein was at 1.2 g/lb and for cut #1 it was at 1.5 g/lb. I think that was good in that it allowed me to retain most of my muscle mass, but now I'm thinking about backing down to the standard 1 g/lb so that I can eat more carbs and maybe have a little more energy for my workouts. Not sure if it will really make that much of a difference 1 g/lb vs. 1.2 g/lb. And only eating 110 g of protein seems so low! Especially when I've become accustomed over the past year to eating between 120-160 grams of protein. And doing the 1 g/lb means my macros are 55% C, 25% F, 20% P. So that's a lot of carbs. Not sure if it's too much...I guess time will tell.
If anyone has any thoughts on protein at 1 vs 1.2 g/lb during a bulk feel free to chime in0 -
Still maintaining on 1900 cals, probably will reach 2000 next week. Not sure how much I like the higher carbs...I definitely think higher protein (120ish) helps my satiety. I've also been feeling somewhat low energy/blah, but that could be due to many different things. So I'll stay on 55% C, 25% F, 20% P, but I may change it up to 45-50% C, 25% F, 25-30% P.
Also, I entered this contest that was from June-Sept, and low and behold I was selected as a finalist! Winner gets $1000. Votes are appreciated
Thank you!
http://muscleforlife.com/summer/voting/0 -
I find the more carbs I eat, the hungrier I am which is great for bulking, maybe not so much for cutting or maintenance. YAY for being a finalist, so proud of you!! You can win this for sure!0
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Yeah, more carbs=more hunger for me. So I switched back to 50% carbs, 25% fat, 25% protein. So that puts protein at 1.2 g/lb, which is somewhat high, but my body seems to like it. I'm also staying at 1900 cals, because I'm starting to see some weight gain, and I want to have this bulk be slow and steady.
I also cut out one of my abs days (was doing abs twice a week) and replaced it with glutes. So I'm going to do glutes 3 times a week now. I saw great progress with my upper body during bulk #1 (and I want to continue making progress), but my lower body is definitely lacking. So I'm going to focus a bit more on lower body for bulk #2, glutes in particular. Booty time! lol0 -
Sounds good, you gotta go with what feels right.
Yay for glutes! I am working glutes 3x per week as well, hope it works for us!0 -
A week or so ago I took some pics of my flat pancake butt, so here's hoping that I'll have some good progress pics to report soon!
I'm struggling with trying to decide if I should really push myself to lift heavier, or if I should stay where I'm at and maybe just do more reps. Of course I would like to lift heavier and heavier (since I'm still really not lifting that much), but my struggle is with my scoliosis I guess. My back doesn't hurt while I lift, but it sometimes hurts the following days when I'm doing stuff at work or around the house (bending over, lifting small stuff, washing dishes and bending over at the sink). I know some of it can be attributed to my lifting, because it's the worst after days that I really push myself. I guess this is just another scenario where I'll really have to listen to my body on a given day and do what I feel is best on the given day.
I also feel like I need to keep my eating surplus relatively small if I'm not able to do progressive overload and continually lift a little more each week. My brain says I won't be able to build more muscle and thus shouldn't be eating as much if I'm not able to increase my lifts each week. I suppose part of that is true and part is just in my head.
I want to find a book about weightlifting with scoliosis (or really any skeletal malformation). I know that it impacts what I do (my spine is curved, hips are uneven making one leg shorter, also feet are not the same size), but I'm not exactly sure how I should be compensating. I wear a lift (insert) in my left shoe and that seems to help somewhat.0 -
LOL to flat pancake butt because that is what I was calling mine for awhile!
Sorry to hear about your struggles with scoliosis... that definitely makes things more difficult on you. Hopefully you can track down some resources. My husband has scoliosis as well so I will keep a lookout for you and definitely let you know if I find anything.0 -
LOL to flat pancake butt because that is what I was calling mine for awhile!
Sorry to hear about your struggles with scoliosis... that definitely makes things more difficult on you. Hopefully you can track down some resources. My husband has scoliosis as well so I will keep a lookout for you and definitely let you know if I find anything.
Thanks! Does your husband lift too and if so, does he do anything specific to compensate?
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He doesn't lift too regularly but when he does he wears inserts in his shoes to help compensate. He says certain forms of cardio tend to agitate his back more than lifting.0
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So my back pain has spontaneously completely disappeared! No pain whatsoever. The best it's ever felt in my life. No more knife in the back pain while I'm washing dishes. My theory is that I'm finally developing considerable muscle that's helping my posture.
More good news- my quads are developing! I noticed my left quad muscle today and got excited. Then I looked at my right quad and thought 'hmmm doesn't look quite as big.' Upon closer inspection 'yeah doesn't look quite as big...' Upon BF's inspection 'you have a mutant lumpy leg!' Somehow I'm managing to grow my left quad but not the right. I know my scoliosis is the culprit and the fact that I have to wear a lift in my left shoe to feel somewhat more balanced when I squat. Maybe no lift? Or maybe 2 lifts in left shoe?? I'm thinking incorporating some single leg squats for just my right leg is probably a good idea.
By the way, I flipped the first pic to make for easier comparison (and the fact I'm looking in a mirror which makes it more confusing)
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Woohoo booty progress! This change was quick- happened over a month, but since I had been kind of neglecting my glutes until now, I guess you can call these newbie booty gains? Amazing what some dedicated glute work can do. Still have a ways to go, but the fun is in the journey- it truly is, especially if there's a lot of room for improvement.
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That's amazing for a month, can definitely see the difference. Nice work! 0
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wow great progress!!0
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Wow, fantastic progress SDR ! What program are you doing again ? (sorry if I missed it somewhere)0
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Thanks! I've been doing Mike Matthews's Thinner, Leaner, Stronger program for the past year and a half but I recently added in glute specific stuff. Mainly stuff I picked up from Bret Contreras. So for glutes I'm doing:
Sunday: glute kickbacks- 3x20, hip thrusts- 3x5, band seated abduction- 3x30, x band walk- 3x10ish (basically walk across the room both ways)
Monday: glute kickbacks- 2x20, hip thrusts- 2x15, band seated abduction- 2x30, x band walk- 2x10ish
Wednesday: glute kickbacks- 3x20, hip thrusts- 3x8, band seated abduction- 3x30, x band walk- 3x10ish0 -
Awesome! Sounds very similar to what I am doing... good to hear. I hope I have results like you soon! Re: the different hip thrust rep sets.. do you just use different weights for each day or keep it the same and increase progressively each week?0
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I use different weights for each day. I do the heaviest I can go for the given reps and increase weight progressively over time. So for example, my heaviest day is the 3x5 day. I increase the weight once I can do all 3 sets at 5-6 reps.0
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SilentDrapeRunners wrote: »I use different weights for each day. I do the heaviest I can go for the given reps and increase weight progressively over time. So for example, my heaviest day is the 3x5 day. I increase the weight once I can do all 3 sets at 5-6 reps.
Great, makes sense. Thanks!0 -
It's happening- things are really starting to explode now. So much strength and my lifts are greatly increasing! My plan is to keep doing this slow bulk (about 1 lb per month) for the next year. We'll see what happens. My cals aren't crazy high (1900), but I think that's enough for now. Things are going really well- increasing strength, better posture, no pain, clothes are fitting better, etc. All good reasons to keep bulking and getting stronger! I don't ever want to go back to being frail and weak again.0
