Hobbyist to Competitor

[Mechace1]

Planning on documenting my experiences here. Have experience with running cycles for ~4 years now off and on - always been a hobbyist, fell out of the lifestyle for a while up until December due to some life circumstances, back on the bandwagon now.

Currently on week 1 of 16 running -
750mg test e
500mg deca
.5mg arimidex EOD

Split currently is -
Day 1 - backs / abs / calves
Day 2 - chest / shoulders / triceps
Day 3 - biceps / traps / abs
Day 4 - quads / hams / calves
Day 5 - chest / shoulders / biceps / abs

Weak points are abs, chest shoulders and Bi’s in my mind so this split is focusing on that. Goal is to put on as much lean mass as possible over this blast and then take 10-12 weeks off or on cruise until I decide what I want to do whether it be blast again to put on more size or start looking for a show. Current diet for week 1 is:

Meal 1 (pre workout) - 4 whole eggs / 230g egg whites / 2 slices Ezekiel bread / 100g banana
Meal 2 (post) - 2 scoops whey in 12oz almond milk / 0.5 cup cream of rice / 0.5 a grape fruit / 21g honey
Meal 3 - 8oz chicken / 0.5 cup dry jasmine rice / low sugar bbq sauce
Meal 4 - same as 3
Meal 5 - 8oz chicken/ 32g natty PB / low sugar sauce / greens supp

Macros for this are 337c / 60f / 281p. Will adjust every 2-4 weeks based on weight and mirror. Cheat meals 1-2x a week.

Goal is to update this daily with workouts and diet, so gonna play catch up with last few days now.

 

[Mechace1]

Week 1 Day 1

Gear - 375mg Test E / 250mg Deca / 0.25mg Arimidex
BW - 191.6
Cardio - 20 Mins stairs (Post lift)
Lift - Back / Abs / Calves

Barbell Rows - 130x12 / 150x12 / 170x12 / 190x12
Wide Grip Pulldowns - 95x12 / 110x12 / 125x12 / 140x10
T-Bar Row - 90x12 / 100x12 / 115x12 / 135x10
Straight Arm Rope Pulldowns - 25x12 / 30x12 / 35x12/ 40x10
Machine Crunch - 55x15 / 65x15/ 75x15 / 85x15
Decline Leg Raise - BWx12 / 2.5x10 / 2.5x7
Horizontal LP Calf Raise - 130x15 / 150x15 / 170x15 / 190x15
Seated Calf Raise - 45x12 / 55x12 / 65x12 / 75x12

Diet
Meal 1 (pre workout) - 4 whole eggs / 230g egg whites / 2 slices Ezekiel bread / 100g banana
Meal 2 (post) - 2 scoops whey in 12oz almond milk / 0.5 cup cream of rice / 0.5 a grape fruit / 21g honey
Meal 3 - 8oz chicken / 0.5 cup dry jasmine rice / low sugar bbq sauce
Meal 4 - same as 3
Meal 5 - 8oz chicken/ 32g natty PB / low sugar sauce / greens supp

Great first day of the cycle, barbell rows are deffinetely going to the stable of my back training over the next few months, but t-bars are feeling great lately and will stick around as well.

 

[Mechace1]

Week 1 Day 2

Gear - N/a
Cardio - 20 Mins Stairs (post lift)
BW - 190.5
Lift - Chest/shoulders/triceps

Flat bench - 150x12 / 170x12 / 190x12 / 210x11
Star Trac Incline Bench - 120x12 / 130x12 / 140x12 / 155x12
DB Flat Flyes - 30x12 / 35x12 / 40x12 / 45x12
Pec Deck - 90x12 / 105x12 / 105x12 / 120x12
Seated Smith OHP - 95x12 / 110x12 / 125x12 / 135x8
DB Lat Raise - 20x15 / 20x15 / 30x15 / 25x15
Incline DB Rev. Flyes - 5x15 / 15x12 / 15x12 / 15x12
HS Dips - 45x12 / 70x12 / 90x12 / 100x12
EZ Pushdowns - 32.5x20 / 42.5x20 / 52.5x15 / 64x12

Diet
Meal 1 (pre workout) - 4 whole eggs / 230g egg whites / 2 slices Ezekiel bread / 100g banana
Meal 2 (post) - 2 scoops whey in 12oz almond milk / 0.5 cup cream of rice / 0.5 a grape fruit / 21g honey
Meal 3 - 8oz chicken / 0.5 cup dry jasmine rice / low sugar bbq sauce
Meal 4 - same as 3
Meal 5 - 8oz chicken/ 32g natty PB / low sugar sauce / greens supp

I'm 100% not used to the amount of volume I put myself through on this day but found myself enjoying it, towards the end 100% was absolutely fried, but still pushed through the cardio. Feeling good overall, surprised to see weight was down though considering I ended my cut at 2400 cals and am around ~3000 now.

 

[Mechace1]

Week 1 Day 3

Gear - 0.5mg Arimidex
Cardio - 20 Mins Stairs (Post Lift)
BW - 190.3
Lift - Traps / Biceps / Abs

DB Curl - 25x12 / 30x12 / 35x12 / 40x12
Seated Inc. DB Curl - 15x15 / 20x12 / 25x12 / 30x10
Seated Machine Curl - 25x15 / 40x12 / 50x12 / 65x12
DB Preacher Hammer Curl - 25x8 / 20x12 / 20x12 /20x12 / 25x8
Barbell Shrug - 155x12 / 180x12 / 205x12 / 230x12
HS Shrug - 45x20 / 70x15 / 90x15 / 115x15
Smith Upright Row - 45x12 / 55x12 / 65x12 / 75x10 / 85x10
Rope Crunch - 52.5x20 / 62.5x15 / 72.5x12
Decline Leg Raise - BWx12 / BWx11 / BWx10

Diet
Meal 1 (pre workout) - 4 whole eggs / 230g egg whites / 2 slices Ezekiel bread / 100g banana
Meal 2 (post) - Large Salad w/ Ranch / Taylor ham egg and cheese on plain bagel / Chicken Cordon bleu w/ white rice
Meal 3 - 8oz chicken / 0.5 cup dry jasmine rice / low sugar bbq sauce
Meal 4 - same as 3
Meal 5 - 8oz chicken/ 32g natty PB / low sugar sauce / greens supp

Trained at not my usual gym near my gf today, was a lot of fun to have access to a bit more equipment i wouldnt usually be able to get to - deff hammered this one out, and in response to my bw being lower yet again added in that cheat meal for meal 2 today. Off tomorrow, just cardio, but will see how my weight looks. Hopefully up.

 

[Mechace1]

And a progress pic, it’s from December to the first day of cycle.

 

[Mechace1]

Week 1 Day 4

Gear - 375mg Test E / 250mg Deca
Cardio - 20 Mins Stairs
BW - 192.9
Lift - N/a, rest today

Diet
Meal 1 (pre workout) - 4 whole eggs / 230g egg whites / 2 slices Ezekiel bread / 100g banana
Meal 2 (post) - 3 Servings Cream of Wheat Brown Sugar / 12oz Almond Milk / 2 scoops whey/ 0.5 a grapefruit
Meal 3 - 8oz chicken / 0.5 cup dry jasmine rice / low sugar bbq sauce
Meal 4 - same as 3
Meal 5 - 8oz chicken/ 32g natty PB / low sugar sauce / greens supp

BW creeping up likely from that cheat meal yesterday, will see if i can hold onto that with the diet from today. Also made the change from cream of rice > Cream of wheat. Considering this phase is about growing as much as possible, the fact that choking down cream of rice makes me want to cry doesnt help lol. The change works it out to 332/60/281 so not a big change in terms of macros and the ability to actually down it is MUCH better.

Back tmrw with Quads/hams/calves

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Brief comment on your diet; fats seem to be pretty low. As you add calories into your diet to keep gaining weight, I’d consider adding both protein and fats first, then switch to adding carbs.

How tall are you?

 

[Mechace1]

Brief comment on your diet; fats seem to be pretty low. As you add calories into your diet to keep gaining weight, I’d consider adding both protein and fats first, then switch to adding carbs.

How tall are you?

Got it - would you stick to the 25 and 10 we talked about? So let’s say until we get to that 350-400 range on protein and around 100 on fat, so it could be 4 increases of around ~200 cals until I get to those ranges and then if I’m stuck based on weight and mirror then add the 50 carb increases?

Any recommendations on fat sources? Was going to probably add evoo or an egg meal at end of day if my digestion holds up, pretty good so far been hungry as shit every 2-3 hours on the dot.

5 foot 9, so not particularly tall

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Dude totally forgot we talked. My bad.

Go to fat sources:
-nuts (almonds) and nut oils and butters
-eggs
-beef
-avocado

And yes, adding more meals would be a good way to stuff more cals in. As would an intra drink.

 

[Mechace1]

Dude totally forgot we talked. My bad.

Go to fat sources:
-nuts (almonds) and nut oils and butters
-eggs
-beef
-avocado

And yes, adding more meals would be a good way to stuff more cals in. As would an intra drink.

No worries at all man!!

Might go for adding some avocado to that last meal as well as some egg whites for the 10g fat and 25g protein first jump - I love avocados so those are always easy for me to add lol especially with chicken.

Yeah thinking the first trick to pull out is add an extra meal and split it up further just because I know from experience intra shakes tend to make me bloated as shit and my budget doesn’t really allow for high quality ones unfortunately.

 

[Mac11wildcat]

No worries at all man!!

Might go for adding some avocado to that last meal as well as some egg whites for the 10g fat and 25g protein first jump - I love avocados so those are always easy for me to add lol especially with chicken.

Yeah thinking the first trick to pull out is add an extra meal and split it up further just because I know from experience intra shakes tend to make me bloated as shit and my budget doesn’t really allow for high quality ones unfortunately.

Gatorade and EAAs off Amazon. Comes to like $1.50 a day.

 

[Mechace1]

Gatorade and EAAs off Amazon. Comes to like $1.50 a day.

Any recommendations on brands? I actually have a bunch of optimum amino energy I never used so could easily mix that with Gatorade.

I’ll probably use that for the second increase just so I can get fats up first then

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Any recommendations on brands? I actually have a bunch of optimum amino energy I never used so could easily mix that with Gatorade.

I’ll probably use that for the second increase just so I can get fats up first then

True Nurition (currently unavailable on Amazon). Was like $25-30 for 500g. EAAs though. Not BCAAs.

 

[Mechace1]

True Nurition (currently unavailable on Amazon). Was like $25-30 for 500g. EAAs though. Not BCAAs.

Got it - found it for 23 bucks for 500g on their website which isn’t bad at all, I’ll pick some up. Anything to help at this point, don’t want to rush the process but I’ve got some serious work to do

 

[Mechace1]

Throwing in a pint of chocolate halo top tonight - thought I’d be having digestion issues eating this many meals but I’m legit starving for the next one within 2 hours tops. Legs in AM

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Throwing in a pint of chocolate halo top tonight - thought I’d be having digestion issues eating this many meals but I’m legit starving for the next one within 2 hours tops. Legs in AM

Dude fuck halo top! If you’re guna eat icecream in the offseason eat some real icecream.

 

[Mechace1]

Dude fuck halo top! If you’re guna eat icecream in the offseason eat some real icecream.

Bruh you ever had the coconut milk version of the chocolate?? It tastes better than Ben and Jerry’s to me I have no idea why I could eat a gallon of the shit

 

[Mechace1]

Week 1 Day 5

Gear - 0.5mg Arimidex
Cardio - 20 mins Stairs (Post Lift)
BW - 189.2
Lift - Quads/hams / calves

High Bar Squat (heels on plates) - 45x20 / 95x15 / 135x15 / 185x12 / 225x10
Close Stance Leg Press - 90ps x20 / 135ps x15 / 180ps x15
Leg Extensions - 60x15 / 75x15 / 90x12 / 105x12 / 120x12
Lying Leg Curls - 50x15 / 60x15 / 65x12 / 75x10
Seated Leg Curls - 50x20 / 65x15 / 75x15 / 85x12
SLDL - 135x12 / 185x10 / 225x8 / 275x8 / 315x8
Standing Calf Raise - 90x15 / 105x12 / 120x12 / 135x10
Seated Calf Raise - 45x15 / 55x15 / 65x15 / 80x12 drop 45x20

Toasted after this. I tore my abudctor off my left groin during my PL'ing days, and sometimes it acts up, today being one of those days so didnt push it hard on the squats. Everything else went well, feeling mostly good, just cant seem to keep an ounce of bw extra on me so going to end up bumping the cals at the end of week 1. Will post back later with diet but will likely be more of the same, prob no ice cream tonight tho lol

 

[Mechace1]

Also leg shot, genetically gifted with well shaped quads even before I started training

 

[Mechace1]

Have had legit 0 time to post with work craziness going on but 3 weeks in and all going well.. up to 197.2 BW upped the fats and protein over last 2 weeks due to hunger. Up to 450C / 425P / 70F not counting the sauces I’m drowning the chicken in lol - haven’t been taking days off as body’s been responding well. Progress pic attached pretty noticeable improvement and looking leaner IMO