New log. Old log: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/85...-ss-log-881233

The story so far...

Went from 205+, comically weak, with no LBM to 155+, slightly less weak, with no LBM doing basic SS lifts at a crazy (albeit inconsistent) deficit. Didn't really recomp or get stronger despite being a fat noob, but did manage to drop a bunch of fat without really putting in 100% effort, so that's cool. Initially I was going to cut down to 12%ish and bulk from there, but it got to the point where I realized I probably wouldn't be doing myself any favors by cutting any further. I need some LBM, pronto.

The current stats...

Age: 22
Height: 5'9''
Weight: 159.6
BF%: 19-22ish (estimate)

The goals...

In order of preference: gain muscle, reduce BF%, lose bodyfat. My goals are mostly aesthetic, so the mirror will be a good judge of whether things are going well. But I also know strength builds size, so my lifts need to keep going up. The scale is somewhat irrelevant here, although I figure if I'm losing weight or gaining more than say .5lb/week I'd probably be doing it wrong.

The plan...

I'm pretty skeptical about my ability to get stronger, build muscle, and not get fat because, well, I've never done any of those things... I assume my p-ratio is like 0. In that light, the plan will be a very lean bulk, bordering on recomp.

Going for minimum 1g+ per lean lb, ideally 1g+ per lb protein (standard). Total calories will be whatever it takes to consistently gain strength/muscle with minimum fat gain, probably 2300-2500ish calories since my maintenance is estimated in the 2200 ballpark. I'm also going to try LeanGains. Can't hurt, might help a lot.

Programming, at least to start, will be SS. Didn't really give it a fair shake in the last log, what with the not eating and all.

Also gonna try and post (or at least take) a lot of pictures. Maybe a weekly one at my Wed morning weigh-in. Maybe make one of those cool gifs where a dude goes from skinny fat to jacked...

Should note that I re-started SS with the "find how much you should start with" thing:

Squat: 135 + 10 = 145
Bench: 95
OHP: 65
PC: 95
DL: 175

Shouldn't be too hard to improve on that.

Aren't these resets too low? What were your numbers when you stopped SS?

Not exactly, I pretty much took a month off from working out because of a knee issue/laziness and definitely lost strength... so I figured I'd start from scratch and get a bit of a running start. These weights were determined by doing the "start with the bar and do sets of 5 until the bar speed slows down" method.

To be fair, for full sets of 3x5 I'd pretty much peaked at 165 squat, 125 bench, 85 OHP, 121 PC, and no idea on DL because of form issues (resolved now). If the resets are too much, I figure it's just barely. One or two extra workouts at the most.

Sounds like you got a solid plan, best of luck. I would consider adding daily push-ups and chins, definitely helps with the upper body muscle mass as well as driving progress on the bench + OHP.

Thanks Soulman. I like the idea of chins + pushups (although I could never find a decent place to GTG, even with the Iron Gym). Is there a certain scheme you suggest for pushups, or just like, whenever you can fit em?

8/24/2011:

Squat: 3x5 @ 155
Bench: 3x5 @ 105
DL: 1x5 @ 185

Squat was tough, probably because of conditions though (hurry, barefoot, weird rack, etc)... rest was easy.

Yeah I like the Greyskull frequency method.

For push-ups:
Do 4 sets of 50% of your max throughout the day, whenever you have time.

For chins:
Same, only do 2-3 reps less than your max.


Increase by reps and/or sets as you get better at it. E.g. if your max push-ups are 25 to start, do 12. Next week, do 4 sets of 14. Week after, 5 sets of 14. etc. No real methodology to it. And prepare to have fried triceps...

Nice, liking the Greyskull pushups thing. Only getting two sets in a day so far, gotta work on that, and not chinning, but...

That being said, gym is closed for maintenance today (what the hell...), so squatting on a slippery floor with no safeites; ohp with a low ceiling where any left/right adjustment means hitting the rafters... oh well.

8/26/2011:

Squat: 3x5 @ 160
OHP: 3x5 @ 70
PC: 5x3 @ 100

Nothin to see here. Weekend is gonna be awful, definitely breaking LG at least twice and drinking heavily. Setbacks are due.

Can't update from home (no power). Also, gym was closed again (no power, what the hell...), so squatting on a slippery floor with no safeties in the dark, etc. etc. etc.

Squat: 3x5 @ 165
Bench: 3x5 @ 115
DL: 1x5 @ 195

Squat and DL were very easy, so I gotta make sure the form is right there... I've been prone to cheat before. There will be videos if I ever get power back. Bench was tougher than it should have been, perhaps because of all the pushups, but not a big deal, never in danger of failing.

OK, so...

8/10/2011: 156.8 (end of cut)
8/17/2011: 158.0 (maintenance)
8/24/2011: 159.6 (maintenance)
8/31/2011: 162.2 (maintenance/bulk)

This is troubling for several reasons. I've been fairly careful about the eating thing. I cheated a couple times but certainly not 3lbs worth. I know it's typical to add a few lbs switching from a cut to maintenance to bulk, but I've already had that (see above). I'm going to chalk this up to a weird fluctuation, but it's obviously this is not what I was going for. If bad things happen at next week's weigh in, there will be some serious re-evaluation to be had.

To be fair, I think I look a bit better than I did last week. Starting to get some shape back. And it's not like all is lost, I'm still comfortably below whatever my TBW is. But really, come on. Bixby gets fat...

Edit: gross question in the spoiler:

Too little fiber in your food imo. I added 3-4 lbs pretty quickly going from a diet to maintenance as well, although I did nomz chocolate and stuff a bit too much.

Haha yea, probably the issue. "Not cutting anymore, screw salads!"

Sweet, power's back...

8/31/2011:

Squat: 3x5 @ 165
OHP: 3x5 @ 75
PC: 5x3 @ 111

Squat was really tough, but I think I'm gonna make a slight form tweak... back in the day I wasn't going deep enough, so I overcompensated by going slightly deeper than I actually need to, and I think that's gonna screw with my linear progress... the idea will be to get to like minimum acceptable depth, which will take some practice... but the reps I "cheated" were probably fine and were easy. OHP was easy. PC was doable, it's higher than I should have gone but I really wanted to be able to use the smallest bumpers in the gym (33kg).

33 kg * 2.2 lb/kg = 72.6 lb
72.6 lbs in plates + 45 lb bar = 117.6 lbs for PC