AND SO IT BEGINS…
Before we get into the beginning intro let me cover some groundwork so that you all that will be following along can see a starting point for myself as well as a plan for how this is all going to work out.
THE TRAINING
At the moment it will be 3 days a week based on home life/work schedule. Typical days are Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday. Having two days off in between Sun-Wed and Wed-Sat is beneficial for the type of “dieting” plan I’m setting myself up for. More on that later.
Training is powerlifting oriented. In the past I’ve done things such as Starting Strength, 5/3/1, CUBE & Sheiko. I have since moved on to a Russian themed program called Smolov, a high volume low rep progressive overload styling which typically follows a “squat 4x/week” mentality but I took that same way of thinking and decided for this go-around to apply it to benchpress instead. Here is how it works:
– Take one month to complete a cycle
– Lifts are based off of %s of a max lift
– %s increase with each subsequent week
– As the cycle progresses the weight increases, the sets increase but the reps go down
– Week 4 tests a new benchpress max
– Week 5 resets a new cycle with +5lbs to upperbody lifts and +10lbs to lower body lifts (exception being whatever new max I set for benchpress)
– A typical setup:
WEEK 1: 6 sets X 6 reps @ 70% max
WEEK 2: 7 sets X 5 reps @ 75% max
WEEK 3: 8 sets X 4 reps @ 80% max
WEEK 4: 10 sets X 3 reps @ 85% max
The only exception is within each day I go to lift I’m always doing bench. So a typical week looks like this:
DAY 1: Deadlift 6×6@70%, Benchpress 6×6@70%
DAY 2: Benchpress 7×5@75%
DAY 3: Squat 6×6@70%, Benchpress 8×4@80%
DAY 4: Overhead Press 6×6@70%, Benchpress 10×3@85%
So benchpress gets cycled much faster compared to the other lifts. For Week 2 of benching I add 5-10lbs on top of the poundage I was benching was the associated day from the week prior. Week 3 +10-20lbs. Week 4 I only bench on bench day and I test a 1RM. Whatever I get here (hopefully higher than last month’s cycle) will be the weight used for calculating bench for the next cycle. If it looks confusing… it isn’t… and as you follow along hopefully you’ll see what I mean.
THE DIET
Simple. Carb backloading. Without getting into too much of the science behind this I’ll just preface the main points.
– Non training days are low carb (<30g carbs). Eat all the proteins and fats I want.
– I train in the late afternoon/early evening, and postworkout meals are chock full of carbs (but no carbs until postworkout) consisting of high glycemic index carbs (so the bad stuff)
– Typical week:
Sunday: Low carb all day, go carb crazy post workout (4x chicken sandwiches from Wendys, large fries & a frosty)
Monday: Low carb all day
Tuesday: Low carb all day, carb load at night to fuel me up for Wednesday’s training
Wednesday: Low carb all day, carbs after workout
Thursday: Low carb all day
Friday: Low carb all day, carb load at night to fuel me up for Saturday’s training OR low carb all day
Saturday: Low carb all day, carb load after workout
SUPPLEMENTATION
PREWORKOUT: Varies, typically Genomyx Stimaholic or Lecheek SpeedTestX3 (sometimes random samples for reviews) + Genomyx Endurate
INTRAWORKOUT: Lecheek AminoFusion
POSTWORKOUT: Controlled Labs Green Magnitude (creatine)
ANCILLARY: Aromatase inhibitor (Licogenix, Erase PRO), Multivitamin, Fish Oil
THE EBF SETUP
Morning: 3x AAv2 on an empty stomach (I typically skip breakfast and my first meal is not until noon)
Dinner: 3x Recompadrol & 2 scoops Metabolic Powder 30 minutes prior to meal
I will be following that same setup on training off days as well.
DAY 1
WEIGHT
248lbs (dry weight, taken right after waking)
BEFORE PICS
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Before Back
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Before Front
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Before Left
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Before Right
Apologies for the poor camera shots. Obviously I’ve put on some extra pudge from taking some away time from the gym and I hope EBF can help me return to a better looking me!
TRAINING
Smolov C2W3D3: Squat 8x4x270lbs, Bench 8x4x240lbs
DIET
Lunch: 2 turkey burger patties, 2 slices wheat bread, 2 slices pepperjack cheese, 2 slices tomatoes, onions, lettuce
Dinner: 5/8th Jack’s Sausage/Pepperoni Pizza with 3oz. Hidden Valley Ranch for dip
SUPPLEMENTATION
So I started the morning off with 3 caps of AAv2 as I was walking out the door. I woke up around 8AM and tossed the caps back with a big glass of water. When I was driving in to work I began to notice some effects about 20 minutes after swallowing the caps… I had the sensation of hunger in my stomach but it was a little off. It was very warm and spread throughout my entire midsection. It almost felt like reflux but I didn’t feel it creeping up my throat. Wasn’t anything to freak me out just a good indicator to let me know that the product had started working. I took 3 caps of Recompadrol and tossed them back with 2 scoops of Metabolic Pow(d)er 30 minutes prior to chowing down on some pizza. Had no noticeable effects on appetite or fullness. I did notice however that I wasn’t feeling as “bloaty” after eating such a heavy meal. I’d really like to see how these products do when I follow them with a legit carb loading meal!
– DJ