One Week Down: Observations

Options
13»

Replies

  • keithcw_the_first
    keithcw_the_first Posts: 382 Member
    Options
    JoRocka wrote: »
    keithcw_the_first wrote: »
    MrM27 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)

    It wasn't a strict OHP I don't think. He definitely wasn't locking out over his head. Actually I think if he was locking it out over his head he would quite nearly have died. Probably a push press then. Still, super impressive.
  • keithcw_the_first
    keithcw_the_first Posts: 382 Member
    Options
    Week 5 (1 Month):

    I'm using an exponential average, which smooths the peaks and valleys nicely. With that method, I've averaged .6 lbs of gain per week for the last five weeks.
    • It's turning into a bit of a grind. This is the "right" rate of progress but it suddenly feels very slow.
    • I'm mixing up my lifting routine because the volume of 5x5 was killing me and it had been going on for too long. I'm going to take my strength days down to 3x5 and mix in some 3x10 days at a lower weight.
    • Something must have changed in my caliper measurement technique because my BF% leapt two points in the last week. I think I had been underestimating it.
    • After a month, pictures indicate a slightly accumulation of fat along the waistline. You wouldn't know it without the pictures. I've also lost some slight striation/separation of muscle in the shoulders I had grown fond of.
    • I've averaged about 3400 calories a day for the last 30 days.

    At this point I'm just determined to see this through to the end, which at this rate should be about another six weeks. I kind of wish I had taken flexed and unflexed pictures at the beginning.

    That being said, I feel like I'm continuing to make strength gains. I did 10 reps on a weight I was doing for five reps a few months ago.

    So after one month, things are kind of "Meh, but slightly fatter".
  • keithcw_the_first
    keithcw_the_first Posts: 382 Member
    edited May 2015
    Options
    7ua8mzdmdrhk.gif
    The graph! I forgot it. Blue dots are scale measurements, red line is weighted average, thin blue line is .5 lb/week.

    I may be headed for another plateau, judging by the way things are heading. If that's the case I'll bump it up by another 100 calories but I won't really know until the end of the week.
  • keithcw_the_first
    keithcw_the_first Posts: 382 Member
    Options
    Also, gym results: 3x5 125# OHP, 3x5 225# squat.

    Pretty good! The OHP is a PR.
  • terizius
    terizius Posts: 425 Member
    Options
    Nice! Pretty on track with the .5 lb/wk gain. And, getting stronger!
  • keithcw_the_first
    keithcw_the_first Posts: 382 Member
    Options
    It seems so!
  • keithcw_the_first
    keithcw_the_first Posts: 382 Member
    Options
    Thanks to food, I finally got two plates on the OHP.

    135, only twice.

    But still, I can cross that off my list.
  • keithcw_the_first
    keithcw_the_first Posts: 382 Member
    Options
    So, this is still happening. I think @terizius was the only other person providing ongoing blow-by-blow of his bulk?
    • I'm about nine weeks in. Picture, calipers, they're all showing fat gains. They're subtle but they're occurring.
    • I've held it to .6 pounds gained per week, which is a little higher than I was shooting for so I knocked 100 calories off of my daily goal to try and level things off for a bit and get back on target. Memorial Day weekend seemed to launch me to a new plateau or something.
    • Happily, my lifts are progressing across the board. The big ones, at least. I'm at 205x4 on the bench, but I'd like to be at 225x5. I don't know if that's in the scope of the current bulk.
    • I've also added 25# to my calculated 1RM for squat.
    • I'm probably hanging out in the 16% or 17% neighborhood so I have a little ways to go before I need to stop, I think.

    Here's the weight chart. Top line is 1lb./week. Bottom line is .5lb./week. The big fat red line is my rolling average which, you can see, kind of started to get away from me for a minute.

    y9vcz3ran5gs.png


    Cheers.

Categories