Big Cat's First-time-training-himself-seriously-log :p

[Big Cat]

Ok, I'm usually not the type for logs, I have the attention span of a lobotomized gnat (this ADHD thing is amazing for researching, but not the greatest in terms of discipline), but as I hope to detail in this opening post, its time for some serious changes in my life.

I've earned my stripes in this community as a researcher, a writer, a trainer. I've always enjoyed the intellectual side of things more. It's always been my selling point that in any gym you'll find people bigger than me, more shredded than me, more balanced than me. In some gyms combinations of all those things, but that what i did achieve in my lifetime i achieved with far less effort than most of you. Efficiency and the scientific method have made me an encyclopaedia of knowledge pertaining to everything physique related, from training to nutrition, from supplementation to chemical enhancement. But it also kept me from doing pretty much anything with any consistency, as I was always chasing and researching the next best thing, and paired with that, I did all my work in the library, on a screen and a little bit in the gym, but almost never where it counted : At home and work with rest, nutrition, timing etc. I was always content with where I was at too, since I never aimed for anything competitive myself. The only bragging rights I was chasing was to be the greatest mind in the sport, not the greatest body. Almost twelve years down the road its a little sad (and downright scary) now to imagine what I could have possibly done had I had some measure of discipline across all these years.

From '99 to '07 I was pretty much a fixture in the online bodybuilding community. After that, life kicked in. I lost my friend and mentor Karl Hoffman, saw the birth of my sons, working longer hours and farther from home, a really bad break-up, a depression and a custody battle, all before I started getting my life back on track. Since then I met the love of my life, bought a house, started working closer to home, and just three weeks ago, I got married (fresh off the honeymoon now). We are talking about perhaps a third child as well. All this has prompted me to settle down, but also get back to what I'm good at. My research and my training. But this time I don't just want to be the smartest, i don't just want to help others become the best. This time, I want to get stronger, bigger, healthier. Me. Stop running from all the stuff I tell the people I train, stop telling myself they have something I don't, stop making excuses. There's a few other factors that influenced this decision as well.

As many of the people who do know/remember me, I am a long-time steroid expert. Type I steroid receptor physiology is my self-proclaimed field of expertise, I have extensive background in biochem, molecular bio and biotech, and have over a decade worth of real life experience with dozens of athletes. My stance on them for a long time was simple : they can be used safely and effectively, but there is no point in using them if A) you don't need them and B) you don't use them properly. Since Both of those applied to me for the longest time I stuck to my principles that eventhough I'm likely one of the top 5 experts on the matter in the world, these products weren't for me. However during the rougher times in my life i succumbed to curiosity and need to research certain things up close and personal. I did a cycle or two properly and it all culminated (part circumstance, part research) in a third nearly 20-month low-dose testosterone cycle. While I gained a great deal of information on the emotional and psychological aspects of AAS use that one just can't get only working with others, I really only re-affirmed that they weren't for me. I gained probably a fraction of what I should have gained on them because they affected me enormously psychologically : they made me very complacent and undisciplined. At the start of this year I basically realized a few things : 1) if I was going to maybe try for a third child I needed to get off. 2) there were some concerns with my cardiovascular health that predated any steroid use that were getting serious enough for me to realize I needed to get that stuff in order before using anything else and 3) that I shouldn't be using this stuff in the first place unless I learned the discipline needed to make this stuff worth the money and the risk. At this point there is also nothing new I need to be learning about AAS, so I didn't even have that excuse.

Combine all these previous facts and you find me where I am now. About to embark on a scary new adventure. Putting my own pride on the line for the first time and start doing more than working out. As of this week, i want to be a bodybuilder ! I want that inner strength, that discipline I saw in my clients every day. I came up from 140 lbs at age 17 to 218 fairly lean pounds (I obviously dieted down for my wedding ) just going through the motions and applying what I know. Know its time to find out what I can do if I really put my mind to it.

Where we are at : I started 09/07, new program, in the first week now just establishing my starting weights. First 10-12 weeks in terms of training will be pretty basic just trying to progressively adding some weight (bodyweight and lifted weight) before we mix up the rep ranges more randomly and add extra small sessions. After a diet is the best time to start eating slightly more but still clean. That will be the biggest task for me I suppose. I'm not using anything steroid wise and as far as supplements I'm sticking to my staples : Zinc (cycling 100-300 mg a day), fish oil for the omega 3 (since I hate fish), whey protein to supplement shortcomings in protein, and where my research is at i'm doing some experimentation with free form leucine and arginine but with distinctly different timing from what you'd expect (extra leucine seems to be a waste around training time if you take whey, and arginine is actually counterproductive around training time - but more on that later in the log)

What I'm aiming at : I'm giving myself 1 year. I turn 32 in August, by age 33 I want to be well on my way to become a respectable bodybuilder. That means balance my physiqe out (finally fix my weak chest, stop slacking on upper leg training so my gigantic calves don't dwarf my very average legs, add serious rear del size), increase bodyweight by a significant amount (not specifying and keep in mind I'm going natural and for the first time ever i'm not drastically bulking up this winter - another health promise I made myself) and finally look reflective of my BF percentage (each summer I get below 7% and still I tend to look smoother than I should be largely because I'm not eating the right things at the right times). At that time I will evaluate, but it would be nice to look in the mirror then and say "by age 34 I'm going up on a stage". It's not impossible, I've worked with less and achieved more, but in those cases the people had the main quality - discipline - and only needed my knowledge, which is easy when i'm standing next to them. Now we are starting from the knowledge and I have to grow discipline before I can grow muscle. A daunting task.

What i'd love to get out of this log : Give and take. I want to take you guys through all the stuff I do on paper to get where i'm going and hopefully be able to teach people something. But I also realize i'm going to need a lot of feedback, motivation, tips and tricks to help maintain the lifestyle.

And when i'm totally back into things in a few weeks, i'd like to start a blog somewhere, start writing articles again about all things BB related : training, nutrition, supplementation, chemical enhancement, but also lifestyle and philosophy. That's also something I need a LOT of help on. I have no idea how to start a blog, where I would best go about it, how I can generate some traffic towards it, what sort of content people would like to see, and a lot of feedback on how to make it bigger and better.

I'm hoping I can find some of that help here ...

What's next on this thread :
1.Training Split
2. Example diet and supp schedule with reasonings
3.Impressions of the first days

 

[Big Cat]

Training Split :

To start off I'm starting fairly simple. 10-12 weeks of straight sets and reps in a standard layout, 4 sets compound, 6-9 sets isolation, with rep ranges reflective of the dominant fiber in the muscle and conducive of initial strength gain. Simple and straight forward. Don't worry, after that i'm definitely going into the finer points of weak point training, rep variation, extra isolation sessions on the same day etc. But I'm starting from what feels like scratch, so lets ease into it I'm eyeing this program and split :

Monday : Chest

1.Flat/Incline Dumbell press (alternating weeks) 4 sets, 6-8 reps
2.Flat/Incline Flyes (alternating weeks) 3 sets 8-10 reps
3.Low-Pulley Cable Crossovers 3 sets 8-10 reps
4.Pullovers 3 sets 8-10 reps

Notes : Dumbell presses are more effective than barbell presses because you can more acurately control the proper range of motion, allowing hands free movement to the side and lowering weight all the way into the armpits. It also recruits more stabilizing muscles. And it avoids having to use benches, which isn't easy on monday, when everybody seems to train chest Having done this workout once already , I might move the pullovers to number 1.

Weights @ Start : 1) 32 kg incline db 2) 24 kg Flat flyes 3) 32 kg cable crossovers 4) 38 kg pullovers
First impressions : I get the feeling I should be able to push up the weight on the db presses and pullovers significantly in the first 10 weeks. Not so sure I can get a lot higher on the other two without losing too much form. I would love to add 4kg to the presses in the first 10 weeks and more on the pullovers (10 kg too ambitious ?)

Tuesday : Legs

1.Leg press/ Squat (alternate weeks) 4 sets 10-12 reps
2.Leg Extensions 4 sets 10-12 reps
3.Leg Curls 4 sets 10-12 reps
4.Stiff leg deads 4 sets 10-12 reps
3.Calf Raises 4 sets max weight max reps

Notes : I need to start very calm here. I have had weak knees all my life ( I technically needed surgery when I was 20 and never got it, never will since its 6 months rehab) and haven't worked legs in several months now. Don't concern yourselves with my calves, they are bigger than my arms. If I do the calf raises on another day as well, they will balloon up again. There was a time I did this exercise with a whopping 700 kg.

Weights @ Start : 80 kg leg press, 93 kg leg extensions, 39 kg leg curls, 45 kg stiff legs.

First impressions : yes those weights are very low. However the leg press seemed to go relatively pain free, so I get the impression I should be able to get massive increases here in a short time. Especially with the legs as fresh as they are. Barring knee pains, I should be able to get these up to normal weights fast. Others i'm not sure, I already felt painful pulling in the hams with these weights, and a lower back strain on the stiff legs. I'm somewhat concerned with increasing weight here and getting injured. although i feel I can do more, I'll likely stick with these weights until I feel more comfortable.

Wednesday : Shoulders

1.Seated Dumbell press 4 sets 6-8 reps
2.Lateral Raises 3 sets 8-10 reps
3.Bent-Over Lateral raises 3 sets 8-10 reps
4.Shrugs 3 sets 8-10 reps

In the past my shoulders used to grow quite fast. I also have a weak chest because of it. It's nearly impossible to take the shoulders out of my chest exercises (also why i stick to dumbells for chest). So this may not seem to exhaustive and its probably not, in all likelihood I will need to adapt this program and drop shrugs (my traps grow just by looking at them) and add more for the rear delts to balance my shoulders out. Sadly i'm drawing blanks in regards to extra rear delt exercises (advice is welcome)

Thursday : Biceps

1.Alternate Curls 4 sets 6-8 reps
2.Isolation exercise (spider curls, concentration curls, one-arm scott curls) 3 sets 8-10 reps
3.Reverse barbell curls 3 sets 8-10 reps
4.21's 2 sets 21 reps

Even at the end of my diet I curled 24 kg dumbells, so its hard to imagine I can increase weight lifted fast here for my bodyweight, which begs the question if I can make drastic improvement on my bi's. The 21's at the end will hopefully help carve some extra definition between shoulder and bicep, where i'm genetically cursed with poor separation.

Friday : Triceps

1.Superset skull crushers / close grip bench press 4 sets 6-8 reps + to faillure reps with same weight
2.Dips : 3 sets 8-10 reps
3.Reverse Pushdowns 3 sets 8-10 reps

Saturday or Sunday (weekends are harder to arrange) : Back

1.Lat Pulldown / chins : 4 sets 6-8 reps
2.Rowing exercises (2 different) 6 sets 8-10 reps
3.Straight-Arm Pushdowns 3 sets 8-10 reps
4.Deadlifts 3 sets 6-8 reps
5.Hyperextensions 3 sets Bodyweight to faillure

Abdominals

1.Kneeling Cable Crunches 3 sets, max weight, to faillure
2.Standing Cable Crunches 3 sets, max weightn to faillure
3.Ball Crunches 3 sets Bodyweight to faillure
4.Knee tucks 3 sets bodyweight to faillure

The first two exercises, the weighted ones, I do after every single workout. The last two i will do twice a week when opportune

Forearms : twice weekly, 6-8 sets, mix of curls, reverse curls and squeezes. I need to bring my forearms up.

Will update post with weights as program progresses.

 

[Big Cat]

Example of diet :

I'm not too big on limiting people to specific foods if I don't have to, I stick to timing and macronutrients ratio's, then work with what people can actually eat. here's my example for the day :

Breakfast 7.30 AM : 30g of whey protein in 500 ml of skimmed milk, 2 tablespoons of soluble whole grain oatmeal, pinch of cinammon. 50 mg of zinc, 1 cap of fish oil.

Midmorning, 10.45 AM : 500 ml of semi-skimmed milk, 1 banana

Lunch : 4 thin slices of wholewheat bread with thin slices of turkey and mustard, 1 diet coke

Midafternoon : 500 ml of semi-skimmed milk

Pre-workout : anything protein around the house, usually left over meat and a cup of milk

Workout : 30g of whey in 500 ml of skimmed milk

1.5 hors after workout meal with meat and veggies, today was meat loaf (based on Dave Ruel's Turkey meatloaf, but made with my own personal seasonings ) and wokked veggies (carrots, soy, paprika, broccoli, onion).

Before bed : 500 ml of skimmed chocolate milk : 2g of arginine, 2g of leucine, 50mg of zinc, 1 cap of fish oil.

 

[IronInsanity]

Lot of detail in here big cat. I hope that the journal process is a value added part of your training. It can be very beneficial if one has the time to keep up with it. Good luck.

 

[PillarofBalance]

Big Cat, I'm psyched to see you bring a log here at TID. I am looking forward to seeing this thing get rolling

 

[Halo]

I agree with POB, I'm stoked to see you doing this BC, been following you for quite some time. I think this is the right place to do a long and get good solid feedback. I'm more on the PL side of things but I'm in for the ride and looking forward to seeing you smash this thing!

 

[SHINE]

Right-on, Good to see ya back at it bro, peace.

 

[Jasthace]

... what i did achieve in my lifetime i achieved with far less effort than most of you. Efficiency and the scientific method have made me an encyclopaedia of knowledge pertaining to everything physique related, from training to nutrition, from supplementation to chemical enhancement. ....... The only bragging rights I was chasing was to be the greatest mind in the sport,.
As many of the people who do know/remember me, I am a long-time steroid expert. Type I steroid receptor physiology is my self-proclaimed field of expertise, I have extensive background in biochem, molecular bio and biotech, and have over a decade worth of real life experience with dozens of athletes.

This should be interesting.
Im concerned about your diet choice though.I think you need to get a lot more real meat in there and not protein powder{milk} and milk, a few scraps of turkey and what ever else is laying around...
What do you think BigCat you can build a body on milk.. meat loaf
Bro, you need to work on that.You mentioned macronutrients ratio's but haven't stated what percentages you will be applying? Also the number of calories you think you will be consuming?
Also whats your BF % at this stage and you are planning to bulk or cut & tone in the initial stages?

To tell you the truth Bigcat.You are not going to get anywhere bro.Some people are back bones and some people are jaw bones.. you are a jawbone

 

[Big Cat]

Lot of detail in here big cat. I hope that the journal process is a value added part of your training. It can be very beneficial if one has the time to keep up with it. Good luck.

Well who has time really ? But discipline starts somewhere and its easier to maintain if people are watching you

This should be interesting.
Im concerned about your diet choice though.I think you need to get a lot more real meat in there and not protein powder{milk} and milk, a few scraps of turkey and what ever else is laying around...What do you think BigCat you can build a body on milk.. meat loaf

Protein quality is largely judged on amino acid content and digestability of the different fractions. Whey and casein are the two best proteins for any given time of day. When I ramp up the proteins, obviously more will come from meat and veggies (I'm open to practical tips for increasing meat intake on the go), but yes, you can perfectly build a body on milk. Its practical, complete, easy to get down.

Bro, you need to work on that.You mentioned macronutrients ratio's but haven't stated what percentages you will be applying? Also the number of calories you think you will be consuming?
Also whats your BF % at this stage and you are planning to bulk or cut & tone in the initial stages?

I'm coming off a diet and I don't want to get too heavy this year, also for health reasons, so I'm starting just over maintenance and working my way up as I feel I can use the calories. In this instance I'm looking at a 40-40-20 split, around 200g of protein. Calories will overall need to increase by another 30% at least, but again, gradually.

To tell you the truth Bigcat.You are not going to get anywhere bro.Some people are back bones and some people are jaw bones.. you are a jawbone

That's the sort of categoric thinking that has held people back for too long. I've already demonstrated ad infinitum there is no such thing as hard-gainers or endomorphs or whatever, its all about working with what you have. I've been other people's backbones for so long. Now its time to step up and be my own. So lets leave the negative stuff out of it. I don't think in those terms, but thank your for your honest criticism.

 

[Jasthace]

Protein quality is largely judged on amino acid content and digestability of the different fractions. Whey and casein are the two best proteins for any given time of day... but yes, you can perfectly build a body on milk. Its practical, complete, easy to get down..

I don't believe that to be true, Im sorry BigCat.Milk products and by products will build a soft puffy mucus like body.Its baby food.Just promoted for huge industry sales.
Eggs, fish,chicken breast and lean beef are the way to go to build solid mass.Stick that with your rolled oats and banana and cinnamon and you cant go wrong.

 

[Go Away]

Looking forward to this. I like the detail and insight already. Get it rolling!

I don't believe that to be true, Im sorry BigCat.Milk products and by products will build a soft puffy mucus like body.Its baby food.Just promoted for huge industry sales.
Eggs, fish,chicken breast and lean beef are the way to go to build solid mass.Stick that with your rolled oats and banana and cinnamon and you cant go wrong.

Who grows faster than a baby though?!
Milk (for those tolerant) for the MF win!

 

[Big Cat]

I don't believe that to be true, Im sorry BigCat.Milk products and by products will build a soft puffy mucus like body.Its baby food.Just promoted for huge industry sales.
Eggs, fish,chicken breast and lean beef are the way to go to build solid mass.Stick that with your rolled oats and banana and cinnamon and you cant go wrong.

I've never had a soft, puffy athlete up on the stage and I've been pushing milk as a staple to any diet for nearly 12 years now, since its an easy way to get in extra protein when you just can't eat anymore. Short of all the research demonstrating milk proteins to be far superior, there is a simple physiological fact that proteins need to be degraded in the stomach and intestines to amino acids and small peptides in order to be absorbed, meaning in the end, your protein quality is determined by it content in A) absolute amino acids (in this, whey is absolute champion) B) Rate of digestability (casein is a slow protein, whey a fast protein, but either can be modulated by what else is taken in alongside it and C) the amount of absorbable peptides present (since those may or may not have additional benefits - babies at the very least take up some peptides whole from milk that they will not need to synhthetize again, to gain certain immunity benefits). In all aspects milk is superior. Research also demonstrates milk to be far superior for workout nutrition for both endurance and resistance training.

Now, don't get me wrong I hear you. My amount of calories still needs to go up (I estimate another 400-500 cals per day by the end of these ten first weeks) and it only makes sense that in part those will come from additional meat, eggs, cheese etc. Since this is the first time doing my own diet I'm still looking for the most efficient ways to balance it all out. Which again explains why there is a lot of milk in there now : It's just easy to fit in everywhere, no preparation, no hassle, can take it anywhere, doesn't make a mess etc.

Looking forward to this. I like the detail and insight already. Get it rolling!

Who grows faster than a baby though?!
Milk (for those tolerant) for the MF win!

Well, a baby cow in this instance I've drank mothers milk, its utterly disgusting (and impossible to come by). As indicated previously the benefit a baby gets from milk is in the peptides it can absorb at this stage in life without digesting them first, we lose that ability with age. Human mothers milk tends to have more carbs and less protein by the way. But the amino acid make-up in various forms of milk has been proven to be the most benficial. With meats of all sorts ranking second (which also makes sense, you are what you eat, and meat is just muscle - so again mammalian meat > poultry > fish in terms of protein quality with the note that the difference is small and that fish offers health benefits and poultry is typically leaner)

I've often spoken on the qualities of milk, and they are many. But basically the one that really matters in this case (since diversification is always better than sticking to a single source) is simply ease of use for a busy person.