Body Building Exploratory Committee

[Brian A.]

Alright so I'll start with some background since I haven't posted here in a long time. I've been working out since high school and I've been a trainer for 5 years. Durring college my friends and I would train each year for spring break and I was able to get pretty decent size, but I never got much leaner than like 11%. However being 6'5" I was able to carry 11% pretty good.

This year two of the female trainers I work with did body building shows. They were both in great shape to begin with, but I was extreemly impressed with their results. They both met with Tony, another one of the trainers at our gym who has been doing natural body building shows for years. He tweeked their progams and more importantly showed them how to get lean for the show. They won second and third place in the show they were in. So after being inspired by their amazing results, I decided to see how far I could take my training.

Now before I go any further I'm not saying that I am planning to acutally do a show, mainly because of the waxing and the banana hammock, but I would like to get into "body builder shape".

This was my New Years resolution, and I took my early January holiday-food-bloat pictures which I will be posting. I then proceeded to work for about a month an a half on a functional style routine to build up core strength and stability. My nutrition was not too focused durring this time, in other words, I was skrewing around and wasting time.

I've finally gotten serious and am tracking everything I put in my mouth. I met with Tony to get a my training and nutrition periodization down, and I'm off and running. Meeting with Tony also solidified my commitment and gives me more accoutability to keep me on track. This is also why I decided to start this log. It's time to see what I've got.

[gobbla]

cool deal, good luck with your training

[Blackjack]

I guess I would ask what do you consider "bodybuilder" shape? Are you just talking lean-ness or have a size goal. Maybe some ideal stats or photos would be helpful.

I'll be following along with a lot of interest due in part to the fact that I'm 6'-4" and struggle with appearing too skinny while not want to gain a lot of fat.

Good luck and keep us up-to-date in this log!

Ted

[Brian A.]

Alright I'm back. I started this thread and then proceeded to get swamped with work. Plus preping all the food that I'm now eating is like another part time job. I'm starting to get a system down and getting solid quick prep meals.

Thanks guys for the encouragement, and I have some pics from January that I will be posting once I actually get to my home PC (posting from my Blackberry right now).

Anyway, I am finishing up my second week of the first phase of my 9 week building period. My calorie intake durring this phase is 3400cal with about 425g of carbs, 250g of protein, and 80g of fat. Carbs are mostly brown rice, whole wheat pasta, oats, and yams. Protein is mostly poultry, tuna, and supplement powders. Fats from flax/olive oil and nuts.

I downloaded a program for my Blackberry to record my food log and I was going to post the log, but the word doc is too large to attach, and when I try to paste it in body of a post it loses th formatting an just turns into one big paragraph. I'm open to suggestions on how to make it work so you all can see everything I'm eating.

My workouts for the first 3 weeks is full body mon wed fri, 4sets of 4-6 reps of the following exercises:
A) Squat
B) Chin ups

A) Standing bar shoulder press
B) Calf Raises

A) Dead lifts
B) DB chest press

A) Bar bicep curls
B) Dips

I do exercise A rest 90sec then do exercise B and rest another 90sec. Usually takes about an hour 15min. I also do 2-3 days a week of 30min light to moderate cardio, then stretching and abs.

I've got one more week of this program and then I'll be doing a split body routine.

[Brian A.]

To address Blackjack's ?, I've always had pretty good size for a tall guy, but I want to try to get bigger this time and then get lean the right way. So basicly I want it all . The plan is 9 weeks bulking followd by 9 weeks cutting. Goal date is July 4.

[Brian A.]

Alright as promised my early January photos. Yea, I know pretty sad for working in the business, but don't worry it's already gotten better.

[MindPower]

Sounds interesting, I think i'll be checking in to see the results
Good luck

[Brian A.]

It appears that I'm coming down with a bit of a cold. Definetly feeling a bit run down and now I've got some congestion and a light cough. This sucks I haven't even had a cold in like 2 years. Usually as soon as I feel a bit of a sore thoat coming on I have a routine before I go to bed that I use and it always works. I gargle with warm salt water, then mix 5g of Glutamine with a cup of orange juice, drink that with Vit C, E, and two RALA. Then I take a shot of Nyquil and go to bed. Always works, I wake up feelin fine. Not this time.

I'm going to lay of the heavy wts today and see if I can kick whatever this is out. I guess there's always tomorrow

[Brian A.]

Still a bit sick. I managed to get through most of my workout yesterday and I got my calories back up to 3400. This is the last week of the full body 3x a week.

[Brian A.]

Well I made it through the strength/power pase with some great results. I ended up with some new personal bests for 6 rep max, in both squat and dead lift I got to 315lbs which I never even reached playing football in high school.

I got measured on Friday and my body weight went up about a pound from 226 to 227 but I dropped a little over 3% bodyfat from just over 16% down to 13%. Meaning that over these first 3 weeks I lost about 7.5lbs of fat and gained 8.5 lean mass. Kick ass!!

I will try to get some updated pics up, but I can definetly see the changes happening.

[Brian A.]

So now it's on to the first phase of hypertrophy. Tony and I worked up an upper body and lower body day that will be repeated 2x per week, giving me 4 days/week of lifting. Each exercise will a 3 set pyramid style (12,10,8) increasing weight with each set. 90 second rest periods.

Monday/Thursday: Lower body
Deadlifts
Lying ham curls
Quad ext
Squats
Seated calf raises
Strait leg calf ext
Hanging leg raises (low abs)
Stability ball planks

Tuesday/Friday: Upper body
Bent over row (wide grip bar)
Close grip lat pulldown
Incline DB chest press
DB flies
Seated lateral shoulder raises
Seated DB shoulder press
Cable bicep curl (bar)
Cable tricep ext (bar)

I'll also be doing light cardio on the off days, probably 2x a week.

Nutrition will now be staggered. Wed, Fri, Sun will now be 2800cal days with the breakdown being: 225g carbs, 275g ptn, and 80g fat. The other 4 days will stay at 3400cal with the same breakdown as before. Today has been my first day at the 2800 and I've definetly been a bit more hungary at meal times, dispite my low activity level so far. I'm excited to see the progress over the next several weeks.

[Brian A.]

Alright here are the new pics:

[gobbla]

obvious gains, good job

[Brian A.]

Coming to the end of week 5 (week 2 of the second building phase) and I'm feelin even more lean. I don't get measured untill next week, but I can't wait. The scale weight is down a few pounds, most likely the result of the 2800cal staggered days, but my strength continues to go up so I'm pretty confident that the lb loss is just fat. For many of my lifts, the weight on the last set of these 12-10-8 pyramids is up to what I was lifting on the 6 rep power days.

I also found out that a couple of my friends from college have a bet going to see who could lose the most body fat. They started around the same time as I did and they said they would let me get in on their bet, but they both have a lot less fat to lose and I was already way ahead of them so I don't think it would be fair for me to jump in. Also my goal date is in July and their's ends way sooner. Here's one of my friend's my space page if any one is interested in his before and after pics: http://www.myspace.com/Thegood56

[Brian A.]

Comming to the end of the second building phase, only one more upper body day left. Just met with Tony to get measured and set up a game plan for the last three weeks of the building phase.

First the measurements, dropped a pound on the scale and 1.5%BF. That puts me @ 226.2lbs and 11.6%, that's down 11lbs fat and up 11lbs of muscle after 6 weeks. More pics to come...

Tony set me up with the basic break down of the next phase of workouts which is 5 day split one muscle group per day 20 sets per day. I will post the routine once I work it out.

Nutrition is also going to change. We're going back to the 3400 cal per day without staggered days. The ratios will change: 300g carbs, 120g fat, 300g ptn. We've decided to use the last part of the building phase to see how my body reacts to a higher fat intake, which will help in manipulating intakes for the cutting phase. I'm not overly conserned about body fat % right now, there's pleanty of time to cut. Additionally I have noticed a decrease in libido in the past few weeks so I am conserned that my testosterone levels may be down so the addition of the extra fat in the form of flax seed oil and mixed nuts will hopfully help boost the hormone production. In addition I have just started taking ZMA before bed, so we'll see how it all works out.

[Brian A.]

Alright, last building phase workout. This will be the last three weeks before I start the cutting phase. The workout will be a 5 day split one muscle group per day. The first two exercises will be 4 set pyramids 12,10,8,6 with 90sec rest between sets. The next 4 exercises will be done as compound/super sets 3x6-10 with 60sec rest between compound/super sets.

Chest Day:
Pyramids:
Flat DB Press
DB Fly
Compound Set 1:
SB Pushup
Cable Fly
Compound Set 2:
Incline DB Press
Dips

Back Day:
Pyramids:
Asst. Pull ups
Bent Over Row
Compound Set 1:
DB Row
Close Grip Pull Down
Compound Set 2:
Cable Lat Cross Pull
Wide Grip Row

Leg Day:
Pyramids:

Dead Lift
Squats
Super Set 1:
Calf Ext.
Leg Press
Super Set 2:
Quad Ext.
Hamstring Curls

Shoulder Day:
Pyramids:
DB Press
Lateral Raise
Compound Set 1:
Upright Row
Front Raises
Compound Set 2:
Shrug
Rear Delt Raises

Arms Day:
Pyramids:
Barbell Bicep Curl
Strait Bar Ext.
Super Set 1:
DB Preach Curl
DB Tricep Kickback

Super Set 2:
Hammer Curl
Rev Grip Cable Ext.