Jay Max Log (Switching from BB to PL and a place to BS)

[jaymaximus]

Hello Meso,

This will be my first log of any kind ever. So it might take some time to get where it needs to be. As stated in the title I am transitioning from a bodybuilder style work out into power lifter training. Why? I've been at this for awhile (since 2006) and I'm bored. I used to love working out. Now it's become a task to me. I hope to eventually find a place to compete. It might be a little harder because of where I'm living right now.

I won't be actually going full into the strength / powerlifting routine until 1 September. Until then I'll be working more on getting my form right and figuring out exactly what training model to follow (I'm torn between 5x5, Westside barbell, and Sheikh. But leaning towards Westside barbell. Any opinions would be great). On September 1st I also plan to start my next cycle. It will be simple. Just 600mg Test C a week for 15 weeks.

A little about myself (I never did an intro in the new member section, sorry)

I'm 34 years old
6'0
215lbs
Ran some PHs in the past
2 real cycles so far (1st was 500mg Test C for 12 weeks, 2nd was Test P and DMZ for 8 weeks)

Also I have a condition called ulcerative colitis (UC) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulcerative_colitis. So I get sick every once in awhile. When I do I tend to lose a lot of muscle. Between 10 and 20lbs easy. I just got out of the hospital a few weeks ago. Lost 15 lbs. Still working on getting it back and my strength back.

My goals are to get my big 3 lifts better. Raise my 1RM on each. And gain some mass (Until now I've had to keep my weight at a certain level because I have to run for work. But I no longer have to run, so as long as my bf is good I can get as big as I want!)

Thanks all for reading. Any help, suggestions, criticism, etc. are not only welcome, but needed. I expect everyone here to help me push myself past whatever limits I think I have.

P.S. My log is like my house, there are no rules to my log. Kick off your shoes, make yourself at home. Go on the fridge. Just try not to clog the toilet.

 

[jaymaximus]

Nutrition: Right now I’m a 6000 cals a day. 400 – 450g of protein. 500 – 600g of carbs. 150g fat. Once I get my weight up a little I will be dropping the carbs.
Most importantly, my pop tart intake is at 2 a day. One during and one after workout. I will adjust as needed.

 

[jaymaximus]

Today's workout: Back

DL: Warm-up at 135 x 10
185 x 8
230 x 5
245 x 3
I tried for 300 because I'm dumb. Got it halfway up, lost all oxygen in my head and almost passed out.

Bent Barbell Rows: I've been doing these forever on Smith machine. But as Doc has said "It's only for hanging up your jacket". So I got a barbell like I should've been doing.
65 x 12
115 x 8
135 x 5
155 x 3
175 x 1

Bodyweight pull-ups:
5 sets x 10

Hammer Strength Low-Row (I think. I might need a notebook in the gym)
1 45 each side x 10
2 45 each side x 8
2 45, 1 25 each side x 6
3 45 each side x 4

Dumbbell Shrugs:
70 x 10
80 x 8
90 x 6
100 x 5
110 x 4
120 on ground ( I was tired)

I ended my workout here today. Since I started adding in DLs I've had a problem. If I do them first I'm worn out the rest of workout. If I wait then I'm too worn out to do them. I know this will be fixed when I get a correct routine, but until then I'm going to be gassed.

 

[Skull]

Knock knock, I'm home lol. Shoes are already off an I'm already chillin like a villin up in here. Good luck bro an I hope you achieve everything you set out for man. I'll be here watching every step an rep on the way. Subbed

 

[jaymaximus]

Finally a picture. Like I said in an earlier post, I recently lost a lot of weight. Not an excuse, just putting it out there.
I hope to gain some good mass / size through all this. Not too worried about being cut at all. But I will be watching my bf.

 

[jaymaximus]

Last thing for right now. As you may imagine for anyone who works out like we do, it's rough losing your "gainz" from being sick (or any other way). So as much as I wanted to wait for my cycle to start I was weak and decided to use a boost. I had some success in the past with the PH halodrol. After the ban I found a little lab that had some. I ordered it and had been sitting on it for awhile. Decided I would take it to lead into my cycle and get a little strength back. Well if you look at my picture I'm having some acne problems on my shoulders, arms, and face (I know you cant see that). I've used halo more than once and never had this problem. Come to find out the halodrol is actually dbol.
I hate the acne, but I don't want to stop taking it because I don't have time for a full PCT before I start my cycle in the next few weeks. So I'll be on that and some aromasin until then. I might just give in and start the cycle early, but I want to hold out.

 

[Maktub]

Nice hat man ! I love dmz men ! I what was your dose on dmz and tests prop last cycle ? I
Have some left overs .

Sorry to hear about your condition men ! Looking forward to gain back those pounds

 

[jaymaximus]

Almost forgot. Starting 1RMs

DL 275
Squat 275
Bench 275 (I can go higher on bench regularly. But I did paused bench for the 1st time on wednesday and this was my best. And it was HARD.)

 

[jaymaximus]

I did 150mg prop eod and upped my dmz dose. Started out 45mg/day for 2 weeks. Then 60/day for 2 weeks. Last 8 was 75/day. Had some great gains on the dmz.

Nice hat man ! I love dmz men ! I what was your dose on dmz and tests prop last cycle ? I
Have some left overs .

Sorry to hear about your condition men ! Looking forward to gain back those pounds

 

[Seven]

Subb'd

You're gonna do great...homie!!

 

[jaymaximus]

Subb'd

You're gonna do great...homie!!

Thanks. Glad youre here.
I already have a new respect for anyone who logs. This is hard work getting everything down.
Question: Do you just have a good memory or do you log your workouts somewhere else and transfer them here?

 

[Morefyah]

Good luck man.
If you consistently hit 6000 cals you gonna be swole!
Are you considering adding another oral now since your hdrol is dbol.

 

[jaymaximus]

Good luck man.
If you consistently hit 6000 cals you gonna be swole!
Are you considering adding another oral now since your hdrol is dbol.

Im not sure. Its funny because someone who Ive discusses my training / cycle with suggested I added dbol but I didnt want to add anything. Now its already in there. But most people take dbol as a "kickstart" and Ill already have taken it.
I also have some dbol I bought (when I actually wanted dbol), and some msten. If anything I think ill save them and use at the end of my cycle depending on how its going.

 

[jaymaximus]

Good luck man.
If you consistently hit 6000 cals you gonna be swole!
Are you considering adding another oral now since your hdrol is dbol.

As far as the cals, I have more trouble staying around 6000 then trying to hit it. I could easily get down 6500 - 7000 a day. But I dont want to overdue it so I find myself having to slow down everyday.

 

[Docd187123]

Fuck man! I was hoping to be the first poster in here but I was slacking lol. You better fucking believe I'm gonna be in this thread as much as I would be in Abella Anderson's ass...... (Pic is for reference and to show how often I'll be here lol)





First things first, you are in great shape regardless of your condition with UC. In all honesty that is a great base to work from. It tells me you know how to eat and put in the work needed to get ahead in this type of training environment. You'll be surprised at how quickly you're going to see changes not just in the strength department but in size as well. My advice to you is get around
200-300g of protein and around 70-80g of dietary fat. Whatever calories left over fill them up with carbs. Carbs are going to make a huge impact on your recovery and performance. At the VERY LEAST, your diet should be able to maintain your body weight. Losing weight on a strength cycle is like walking up an escalator that's going down. Gaining weight at a reasonable pace would be best but so long as you maintain you'll be in good shape.

As to the training, I'm not going to recommend Westside for you. From the sounds of it it wouldn't be the optimal choice. Westside does better when you have all the specialty equipment (SSBar, buffalo bar, cambered bar, etc) and a team who knows how to run it to work with. With your numbers I see Sheiko progression to be a little slow for my tastes for you also. The two I like the most for you would be Texas Method by Mark Rippetoe for you (I have almost too much experience with this so helping you out would be as hard as breathing lol) or a DUP program where it undulates daily in terms of intensity, reps, and sets. Insertnamehere is running something like DUP AND HAS GREET SUCCESS WITH IT.

Don't think I failed to see you mention the pop tarts either . This means you're already ahead of the game by 50% hahahaha.

 

[jaymaximus]

Fuck man! I was hoping to be the first poster in here but I was slacking lol. You better fucking believe I'm gonna be in this thread as much as I would be in Abella Anderson's ass...... (Pic is for reference and to show how often I'll be here lol)

View attachment 28112

View attachment 28114

First things first, you are in great shape regardless of your condition with UC. In all honesty that is a great base to work from. It tells me you know how to eat and put in the work needed to get ahead in this type of training environment. You'll be surprised at how quickly you're going to see changes not just in the strength department but in size as well. My advice to you is get around
200-300g of protein and around 70-80g of dietary fat. Whatever calories left over fill them up with carbs. Carbs are going to make a huge impact on your recovery and performance. At the VERY LEAST, your diet should be able to maintain your body weight. Losing weight on a strength cycle is like walking up an escalator that's going down. Gaining weight at a reasonable pace would be best but so long as you maintain you'll be in good shape.

As to the training, I'm not going to recommend Westside for you. From the sounds of it it wouldn't be the optimal choice. Westside does better when you have all the specialty equipment (SSBar, buffalo bar, cambered bar, etc) and a team who knows how to run it to work with. With your numbers I see Sheiko progression to be a little slow for my tastes for you also. The two I like the most for you would be Texas Method by Mark Rippetoe for you (I have almost too much experience with this so helping you out would be as hard as breathing lol) or a DUP program where it undulates daily in terms of intensity, reps, and sets. Insertnamehere is running something like DUP AND HAS GREET SUCCESS WITH IT.

Don't think I failed to see you mention the pop tarts either . This means you're already ahead of the game by 50% hahahaha.

Glad to see you here. I'll look up the Texas Method. But I trust your judgment, so I'm in. As you know I'm really excited about this. I feel like a gym noob again. I cant wait to get in there now. I'm getting my motivation back.
Thanks for all the help already...

And Abella is hot. I liked her better before the implants, but Im a fool for small chest big ass. That combo will get me everytime.

 

[Docd187123]

Glad to see you here. I'll look up the Texas Method. But I trust your judgment, so I'm in. As you know I'm really excited about this. I feel like a gym noob again. I cant wait to get in there now. I'm getting my motivation back.
Thanks for all the help already...

And Abella is hot. I liked her better before the implants, but Im a fool for small chest big ass. That combo will get me everytime.

I would do disgusting things to her regardless lol. I don't care about chest size just thigh and ass size

Did you think I was going to miss getting in on this and watching you go for the ride of a lifetime? not on your life! This will be like my second home.

Quick rundown of Texas Method, it's more complicated than this but this is the 10sec dumbed down version so you have an idea. I'd also suggest Practical Programming the book if you want to run this but not needed.

Mon: squats 5x5, bench press 5x5, pulling movement or posterior chain work like good mornings or RDL 2-3x5

Wednesday: squat 2x5 or front squat 3x3, OHP 2-3x5, one other light lift

Friday: squat 1x5, bench 1x5 deads 1x5

Progression is simple and brutally effective and difficult

 

[jaymaximus]

I would do disgusting things to her regardless lol. I don't care about chest size just thigh and ass size

Did you think I was going to miss getting in on this and watching you go for the ride of a lifetime? not on your life! This will be like my second home.

Quick rundown of Texas Method, it's more complicated than this but this is the 10sec dumbed down version so you have an idea. I'd also suggest Practical Programming the book if you want to run this but not needed.

Mon: squats 5x5, bench press 5x5, pulling movement or posterior chain work like good mornings or RDL 2-3x5

Wednesday: squat 2x5 or front squat 3x3, OHP 2-3x5, one other light lift

Friday: squat 1x5, bench 1x5 deads 1x5

Progression is simple and brutally effective and difficult

After looking at it the Texas Method looks good.
I noticed in most of the write ups that they have the power clean on Fridays. I know thats a difficult lift to get down without a coach. Do you think thats something that could be done?
Also I'd like to figure out a time to do bent barbell rows, but I can leave that out if its going to cause more fatigue than help.

 

[jaymaximus]

Watching the Rock in Hercules always gets me hyped up to go to the gym (no homo)!

 

[Docd187123]

After looking at it the Texas Method looks good.
I noticed in most of the write ups that they have the power clean on Fridays. I know thats a difficult lift to get down without a coach. Do you think thats something that could be done?
Also I'd like to figure out a time to do bent barbell rows, but I can leave that out if its going to cause more fatigue than help.

Power cleans are suggested by rippetoe to be included in the program but without a coach or a lot, A LOT, of hours of practice your form just won't be good enough to get the full use out of them. That's why in my littler example above I subbed in RDL or SLDL, or even good mornings. They still work posterior chain and pulling movements just not explosive like cleans.

The program is not a program really. It's a template, a way of organizing and programming your training. Nothing is set in stone and it's totally customizable to your goals. We can add in rows although I'd suggest the Pendlay row version for strength.

It can be tailored to address certain lifts more than others, to address weak points you may have, to bring about strength or size in certain body parts, etc. It's totally up to you and when you're ready to sit down and write down your goals as specifically as possible we can begin tailoring the template to you individually.