Training Log - MacBuilt

[T-Bagger]

I got some pretty decent playlists together in Spotify but I have great playlists stashed on my trusty battered old mp3 player.

Manilow isn’t really what I would call worthy of the gym

 

[Jankauskas]

Week 0 vs end of week 2

Started around 220
Got aboard with Mac a week 0 around 205
Weighed in at 199.4 at week 2

As you can see I’ve got most fat around the belly with lean legs and arms. As I’ve said in other posts, I’m at or above 2,000 calories a day so it’s not like I’m starving here but still averaging 3lbs/week loss


Less belly fat and you can start to see seperation of the fat down the center of the abs.
View attachment 111960


Less fat around the lats and waist; you can also see the definition in the back muscles showing up.
View attachment 111962

Did my fasted cardio run this morning quicker than I could do my mid day run about a month ago. But still way off my competition days by about 40% lol. So cardio is going up and muscles are coming out.

Shit from the back you can see how impressive your progress really is.

Keep it up

 

[mp46]

Shit from the back you can see how impressive your progress really is.

Keep it up

Thanks!

The stomach fat has always been a problem even when I had a more developed back and 30lbs lighter. From the side view (I didn't post it) you can also see how well my posture improved and I have a more natural spine curve now.

I'm still hovering around 198 but there's constant progress even if the scale isn't moving. I keep catching myself in the mirror flexing and I can see the bi/tri separation when doing dumbbell presses as opposed to just a fat arm. Veins in the forearm, bicep, and calves are popping even without a gym pump. Just a bunch of small noticeable things. I'll try to get more photos posted this weekend after the next check in.

 

[Jankauskas]

Thanks!

The stomach fat has always been a problem even when I had a more developed back and 30lbs lighter. From the side view (I didn't post it) you can also see how well my posture improved and I have a more natural spine curve now.

I'm still hovering around 198 but there's constant progress even if the scale isn't moving. I keep catching myself in the mirror flexing and I can see the bi/tri separation when doing dumbbell presses as opposed to just a fat arm. Veins in the forearm, bicep, and calves are popping even without a gym pump. Just a bunch of small noticeable things. I'll try to get more photos posted this weekend after the next check in.

I don’t mean I can’t see progress from the front, i can see clearly your progress, but from the back is just night and day man.

 

[chris587]

Bro if you stay dedicated for 6+ months i have a feeling your gonna look like a whole new person. Whenever my budget allows i believe im gonna hire mac to lead me on my first ever 'real' cut. I was 236lbs at the gym today. Would love to see 'what i have under the hood' so to speak. Wear 36" pants at waistline so im not terribly out of shape. Judging based on the bodyfat comparison picks ive found im around 14-16% body fat. Would love to see sub 10% for the first time ever.

Ill be following along for sure.

Keep posting brother takes a lot of balls to post up pics especially when your in the beginning stages.

 

[puckhog]

Great job so far @mp46

 

[k0rkscrew]

Just read through your log. Great work man, for real! Keep it up. I know what you mean about the stress planning everything yourself can cause and wondering if ones self is on the right track. Mac's got a solid plan giving you more time to focus on training. I'll be following this with great interest! Good job!

 

[mp46]

WAYYY overdue on an update and that's completely my fault, sorry to those that are interested in following the progress.

The last week to week and a half have been hell and it's been taxing me to stay on target but I'm not trying to let myself or Mac down. Some people have been curious about weight progress and diet/training so here's a little break down for the first weeks.

When we started it was like 205 and end of week 1 check-in was 202.0
week 2 200.2
week 3 added food 199.4
week 4 added food 198.2
week 5 added food 196.8
week 6 added food 195.0
Pretty sure we added more for week 7 as well.

So we're constantly adding some kind of food to the diet and adjusting training to keep losing weight, however we are still gaining strength and muscle mass; so much so that even with straps my increasing grip strength isn't keeping up with increasing strength in things like rack pulls and dead lifts. The mass is increasing as well, chest and arms of shirts are tighter and everyone makes comments about it so it's not just a placebo from me. I've also noticed the leg muscles separating. Before where the leg was just a round trunk piece I can feel the hamstrings narrowing? or tapering? on the back of the leg. The inner and outer quad (vastus lateralis and medialis) are also starting to pop from the leg, although no real visible separation between any of them.

And finally for those that have been waiting, yes we started the blast for this cycle. I pitched the idea for a low- intermediate dose test, mast, and var cycle and my reasoning behind the choices. Mac came back with some adjusted plan ideas and explained why they would be better. Since we went with one of Mac's proprietary ideas I'll let him make the call about giving out the specifics of the cycle.

 

[mp46]

Bro if you stay dedicated for 6+ months i have a feeling your gonna look like a whole new person. Whenever my budget allows i believe im gonna hire mac to lead me on my first ever 'real' cut. I was 236lbs at the gym today. Would love to see 'what i have under the hood' so to speak. Wear 36" pants at waistline so im not terribly out of shape. Judging based on the bodyfat comparison picks ive found im around 14-16% body fat. Would love to see sub 10% for the first time ever.

Ill be following along for sure.

Keep posting brother takes a lot of balls to post up pics especially when your in the beginning stages.

Well 6 weeks in and there's already big differences that are noticed, I'm on the plan for 4 months so we've got plenty of time to make make huge changes. My idea after that would be continue recomp on my own and get to a place for a true bulk and bring mac back in for another 4 month cycle, 1 month to form a base and 3 months for a total bulk. Keep following that pattern of 6-8 months a year with Mac and 4-6 to work on my own not stress if I fall off for a week or so.

 

[mp46]

Just read through your log. Great work man, for real! Keep it up. I know what you mean about the stress planning everything yourself can cause and wondering if ones self is on the right track. Mac's got a solid plan giving you more time to focus on training. I'll be following this with great interest! Good job!

Thanks, it really is great having a coach on the outside looking in, I was skeptic we were getting much of a result until someone asked about the results, that's when I compared the diet to weight and realized even with increased food we were still getting towards the goals. Also, started documenting the weights I was using made me realize although slow, we were seeing increases in weight used. So we really were getting both weight loss and muscle increase.

 

[mp46]

Starting to catch up on sleep and I'm canceling any plans for this weekend so I don't get behind on it. Went from the gym and straight to yard/house work until dark so I'm exhausted already.

Set a PR on bench today, 170lbs for 8reps, medium width grip. Also managed 45s on inclined dumbbell ladder, 6 sets of 10. Usually I'm limited to 40lbs and have to drop to 35 or 30 by the time I get to the shoulder press.

I do find the closer I get to the shoulder press and especially the shoulder press, I find my back arching, should I focus on keeping the back flat against the bench or is this natural and irrelevant?

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Starting to catch up on sleep and I'm canceling any plans for this weekend so I don't get behind on it. Went from the gym and straight to yard/house work until dark so I'm exhausted already.

Set a PR on bench today, 170lbs for 8reps, medium width grip. Also managed 45s on inclined dumbbell ladder, 6 sets of 10. Usually I'm limited to 40lbs and have to drop to 35 or 30 by the time I get to the shoulder press.

I do find the closer I get to the shoulder press and especially the shoulder press, I find my back arching, should I focus on keeping the back flat against the bench or is this natural and irrelevant?

Natural arch is OK; don’t over do it. Core tight, control breathing.

 

[mp46]

I was having some lower leg issues on leg press so backed off a little this week but that allowed me to to hit 185 for 3x12 on squats which is a PR. Never done squats before a month or so ago so everything is really a PR.

I need to concentrate on my form with dead lifts though, caught myself using more back than hip on a few reps.

 

[Test_Subject]

I need to concentrate on my form with dead lifts though, caught myself using more back than hip on a few reps.

I find that sometimes happens to me when I touch-and-go reps with heavy weight. Try resetting your form between reps and see if that helps.

 

[Mac11wildcat]

I find that sometimes happens to me when I touch-and-go reps with heavy weight. Try resetting your form between reps and see if that helps.

100%. Gotta drive technique hard before touch and go reps get second nature.

For now, every rep:
-get into position with a flat/neutral back, head looking somewhere out in front of you on the floor, shoulders locked back with lats engaged
-pull slack from the bar
-push the floor away and drive hips through to do the rep

 

[mp46]

Got a little overzealous today and tried to bench 185 for 8 reps, managed 5, could have gotten 6 if I had extend the warmup a little better but never would have made 8. Pretty sure I did 160 or 165 last week, so big improvement either way.

Also blew through the inclined dumbbell ladder with 45s instead of struggling the last two sets like last week and having to use 35s or 40s 2 weeks ago.

This is only week three on the blast with no orals so it’s certainly not PEDs getting these results. Refined the diet the last two weeks and started splitting the cardio mid day.

 

[mp46]

Felt pretty lethargic and unmotivated walking into the gym this morning and didn’t want to push it so I turned on some classic metal then dropped the weight 10% and concentrated on complete range of motion, proper form, and full muscle contraction.

Did my HIIT cardio after and couldn’t get my heart rate below 170, so something’s definetly off and I would have burnt out halfway through the weight training had I decided to push it.

Tomorrow is light cardio and rest so that should help. It’s also around that time to donate blood so hematocrit and RBC could be going up, but I’m also working on not getting caught up on the one off days like a hypochondriac.

 

[mp46]

Started some carb cycling this week and I have no clue what any of that is, so I'm just trusting Mac knows what he's doing I'll dive into how the diet is structured and see if I can decode it myself before asking questions.

I did warm ups for rack pull at 95, 135, 150, and 165lbs. I lost all grip strength on those 5 reps of 165 so I strapped up and went into 3 working sets at 185lb which is usually pushing it, and the first 5 reps were way to easy so I set the bar down. I put 195 on the bar, picked it up and said fuck it, threw it right back down and slapped 5lbs on the bar.

Finished the first set and zero fucks were given, 200 wasn't enough, I wanted to say I did over 200 so I totaled out 205 for the last two sets. 10 reps each wasn't easy concentrating on form, keeping the core tight with a straight/neutral spine but I could have confidently pushed another 5-10lbs without killing myself.

 

[mp46]

I HIT 185 x 8

Last few reps weren’t pretty, at all... but I got them up. I thought about quitting at 7 but there were some guys around to help if I dropped the bar on my face.

 

[mp46]

So like I said, hit 185 for 8 on bench, but couldn’t get the last rep on the last set of incline ladders, but I’ll take that trade off for +20lbs and 3 reps.

Two weeks ago I was having pain from a previous injury on the leg press at 450, I dropped to 360 last week with no pain and I’m back to 410 with no pain this week.

I stayed at 185 on squats but I didn’t get light headed and hyper ventilating this week so that’s another plus in my book. I also bumped straight leg deadlift from 185 last week to 205 this week, wasn’t easy, and difficult to keep the core tight, but didn’t feel like I was over stressing or about to pull something.

On my barbell lift movements my grip is giving out around 165 for 5-6 reps during warm up sets Which is up from 130ish and after a bunch of other pull/grip intensive exercises before getting to e barbell.