One Week Down: Observations
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keithcw_the_first wrote: »Two weeks in at this point:
- Still seems like a lot of food. It's not as bad, and it doesn't feel like a binge like I thought it would because if I had been on binge I would have stopped already. It feels more like an occasionally enjoyable chore.
- I increased my volume at the gym again and pulled (just once!) 340 on the deadlift. For me, that's a PR.
- Calipers indicate fat gain is marching in lock step with lean mass and might actually be out-pacing it.
- Photo shows no change.
- Waist measurement is actually down a half inch and I'm noticing increased vascularity in some areas.
Over the last 30 days, which extends past this bulk, I've averaged 2800 calories a day. Over the course of the bulk, such as it is, I've averaged about 3200. This changes between rest days and workout days.
My rolling 14 day average weight is up about 1.5 lbs since April 6th, and my scale weight since then is up 3 pounds. So that's either 1.5 lbs a week or .75 pounds a week or somewhere in the middle.
Verdict: Too soon to tell. I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing until I can tell I'm definitely putting weight on too fast, as determined by the rolling 14 day average. I'm also enjoying daily weigh-ins because seeing the scale swing 5 or 6 pounds in both directions from day to do is an interesting exercise in self-control and anxiety management.
Sounds like it's going great. Keep it up!0 -
As soon as I saw 340 PR, I tried to click the "like" button. Forum posts really need a like button..
Good stuff, and seems somewhat similar to what I am experiencing. My waist got smaller for a week or two also, but it has reversed that trend (as evidenced by the difficulty I had with my pants this morning)0 -
Okay, so we're here about a three weeks in:
Eating is much easier.- I picked up some Enzyme 13 and that helped tremendously with a lot of the digestive issues that arise. It is, as the name suggests, 13 different digestive enzymes packed into one gelcap. Kinda pricey.
- I feel like I'm increasing my volume too much and I might need to step down to 3x5 for some of my Stronglifts crap. I've tweaked my back and my shoulder in the last two weeks and they're both taking longer to heal than I'd like.
- I hit 340x2 on the deadlift, but it was sketchy as hell and basically wiped me out for the rest of the workout.
Now the graphs:
This first one is my weight for the month of April. The bulk didn't officially start until the 9th or so; roughly indicated by the green diamond. You'll see the 14 day moving average weight indicated by the dotted red line.
It has leveled off. That's a two week average, remember. Initially, that would suggest to me that my surplus turned into maintenance and it's time to adjust upward, which I've begun this week. Just 100 calories initially. We'll see what that does.
This graph is the same month period's intake/burn:
I've averaged about 3200 calories in (as you can see it varies). Average surplus is 317.
Like I said, I'm really starting to feel *kitten*-kicked and I think the answer is more food. Just a little, but I think it will be more beneficial on rest days. I want to see that 14 day average trending upwards again.
Oh, and my Overhead Press seems to have stalled. Again, I think it's too much volume.
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keithcw_the_first wrote: »
Like I said, I'm really starting to feel *kitten*-kicked and I think the answer is more food. Just a little, but I think it will be more beneficial on rest days. I want to see that 14 day average trending upwards again.
Oh, and my Overhead Press seems to have stalled. Again, I think it's too much volume.
I would take a look at other factors like sleep, stress etc. before you go dropping the volume. Perhaps consider a deload week as well.
Try to microload OHP, or add a back off set.
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What does a deload week usually look like? Do you go by percentage?
And the back-off set?0 -
keithcw_the_first wrote: »What does a deload week usually look like? Do you go by percentage?
And the back-off set?
There's a lot of ways to structure them, but ultimately you're just backing off the weight or the number of sets and reps. Some people prefer to work off percentages - 50%, 60% etc. Some people use to to play around with other lifts...
Here's a write up example : http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/deloading-101-what-is-a-deload-and-how-do-you-do-it0 -
I see this come up on the gaining weight threads as a negative (and not just from people with EDs). This sounds awesome though. Is it really that much of a struggle to eat? Is it a mental thing? As in, you've spent so much time dieting down you're afraid your results will disappear or something? For me, I long for the day, which may never come, where I have a license to eat at a surplus for a while.keithcw_the_first wrote: »Okay, observations after one week of bulking:- It's a lot of food
I'm with you on this one. Not to downplay other peoples struggle, but I sometimes wish I felt like this. Apart from the odd day, during a 3 month bulk, I had zero issues with the amount of food (but then, I'm a girl who does no cardio so my surplus was only 250, nothing like the calories some of the folks need to hit).
You're not alone, I also long for the day when I can bulk again.
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Well done on the PR! - this is the best bit about bulking IMO
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keithcw_the_first wrote: »[snip]
[*] I hit 340x2 on the deadlift, but it was sketchy as hell and basically wiped me out for the rest of the workout.
[/snip]
Just wanted to ask a question. Are you doing 1x5 for deadlift, and are you lifting after that set or is it the last set? I agree that DL wiped me out for stronglifts, but I always made them my last lift of the day. Squat, then OHP, then DL. And since my legs were already warm from the squats, I didn't really need a warmup set (although I often did one anyways as a mental practice).
If you're adding in accessories, I'd cut them out if you're having recovery issues. If you aren't DL at the end of your workout, I'd try switching around the order if possible (sometimes racks and equipment aren't free which is always annoying) and end with deads.0 -
I had been been doing them 1st, 1x5 (or 5x1 if it's really rough).
Lately though, after the 1x5 in totally gassed for the rest of the workout. I was trying to conserve strength for the DL.0 -
keithcw_the_first wrote: »I had been been doing them 1st, 1x5 (or 5x1 if it's really rough).
Lately though, after the 1x5 in totally gassed for the rest of the workout. I was trying to conserve strength for the DL.
Whatever lift you do last is going to be affected because you're lifting before it, but because deads are the lowest volume, I always try to end with them. You might try messing with the order and see if it helps with the recovery. Or look at rest days; make sure you're getting enough of them and that you're spacing them appropriately. And Lolbroscience listed off a lot of factors that inhibit recovery as well.0 -
LolBroScience wrote: »keithcw_the_first wrote: »What does a deload week usually look like? Do you go by percentage?
And the back-off set?
There's a lot of ways to structure them, but ultimately you're just backing off the weight or the number of sets and reps. Some people prefer to work off percentages - 50%, 60% etc. Some people use to to play around with other lifts...
Here's a write up example : http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/deloading-101-what-is-a-deload-and-how-do-you-do-it
Ha, I just posted this in another thread. Great minds...0 -
It's about 4 weeks at this point:
- I have a temporary crown in, so chewing is a real nightmare. Actually it's okay most of the time but sometimes the thought of eating is a real drag, so I'm leaning heavily on the blender to hit my calories.
- I had a massive, massive overage on the weekend -- and then followed that up with a day where I was on my feet for about 12 hours on and off. I kind of front-loaded calories in anticipation of so much walking.
- Waist measurement seems about the same.
- Calipers indicate two pounds of LBM in just shy of a month; about 1.5 pounds of "other" in the same period. So about three pounds gain total.
- I also had a deload week because my back was killing me and pretty much every exercise in my full body routine touches on it in some way. I'm feeling better now but, cautious.
The rolling average is starting to move upwards again, which is good:
Pants still fit.
I told myself I'd give it a month, which it hasn't quite been yet. I think at this rate I'll continue since I don't have full confidence in the fat calipers. I have some anxiety surrounding stalled lifts but I imagine that attempting and failing that last set still creates stimulus for growth.
I'm starting to see results with a surplus in the 600 calorie neighborhood. If that speeds up the fat gain too much I'll back it off but when I was hitting 400 and 500 over I wasn't seeing a lot of movement.
My initial goal was to stop when my rolling average hits 200 lbs. So maybe another month of this?
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Finally hit 120 5x5 on the OHP so I guess that food is going somewhere.0
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I've also had weird results - I gained 1kg this last week. I thought maybe its just all that extra food sitting in my stomach. It really is a pain to eat so much, but that's good because I don't want it to become a habit once I've reached my target. I can't see any difference body fat or otherwise.
edit: why doesn't my ticker show my weight gain? I've added the numbers in settings.0 -
I've also had weird results - I gained 1kg this last week. I thought maybe its just all that extra food sitting in my stomach. It really is a pain to eat so much, but that's good because I don't want it to become a habit once I've reached my target. I can't see any difference body fat or otherwise.
[...]
So you raise an interesting point, one that I feel like I've noticed too. I'm, at this point, pretty much used to the extra food. And watching the scale swing five pounds in three days and then swing back.
But I still feel like it's inconvenient to eat this much. Programming in extra snacks when I'm not hungry kind of sucks. It's fun to be looser with the stuff I get, but it's not fun to have to constantly eat and worry about whether I'm going to have to make up 600 calories at the end of the night.
I hope that mentality can carry me through my eventual cut.
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keithcw_the_first wrote: »Finally hit 120 5x5 on the OHP so I guess that food is going somewhere.
That's nice right there. It's frustrating for me how slow the progression on that lift is
You should tell that to the guy in the power rack next to me. Warmed up with two plates on the OHP. Then grabbed two more. Then two more.
Then two more (three on a side now).
Then two 25's.
He was doing really quick sets of 3 and even heavy singles but... still. I was shocked. I know I couldn't have even unracked the bar. With the help of his spotter he managed to get a single OHP of 365. That's some next level *kitten*.0 -
keithcw_the_first wrote: »keithcw_the_first wrote: »Finally hit 120 5x5 on the OHP so I guess that food is going somewhere.
That's nice right there. It's frustrating for me how slow the progression on that lift is
You should tell that to the guy in the power rack next to me. Warmed up with two plates on the OHP. Then grabbed two more. Then two more.
Then two more (three on a side now).
Then two 25's.
He was doing really quick sets of 3 and even heavy singles but... still. I was shocked. I know I couldn't have even unracked the bar. With the help of his spotter he managed to get a single OHP of 365. That's some next level *kitten*.
was he over head pressing or was he doing a push press?
Because a strict OHP is different than a push press. (I mean- 365 is pretty impressive either way- but they aren't they same movements)0
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