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Hi.

 

I started lifting a year and a half ago, but became more serious just this year. I started with Starting Strength and then moved to a fairly standard bodybuilding 5 day split (Chest, Back, Arms, Shoulders, Legs/Other). I'm happy to receive advice about my diet and the lifts.

 

Here is my starting values (from 5 months ago):

 

Chest 05/06/2015

Flat BB 4x5x130

Incline DB 4x8x10

DB Flys (Bands) 4x8x10

Dumbbell Pullover (hadn't started this yet)

Pushups 1x20x0

 

Back/Traps 05/08/2015

Weighted Pull Up 3x4x25

Deadlift 1x4x160

One Arm DB Row 4x8x30

Bent BB Rows 4x8x70

 

Arms 05/09/2015

BB Curls 1x4x50

Close Grip Bench 3x8x50

Preacher curls DB 4x6x25

Standing French Press 4x8x30

Bent Over 1-Arm Tricep Ext (hadn't started yet)

Hammer Curls 4x8x25

 

Shoulders 05/10/2015

Military Press 4x4x80

Upright DB Rows 4x8x25

Front Raise 4x8x15

Reverse DB flys 4x8x10

Shrugs 4x8x100

 

Since then I have worked out:

May - 16 times

June - 17 times

July - 16 times

August - 18 times

September - 12 times

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I've had a bad september and early october where I struggled to complete my work outs, often feeling fatigued and sick. I've had to de-load across the board on every exercise. Part of the reason I am posting here is to help get me back on track. I think this forum will also help me build more awareness about healthy eating. I am feeling pretty good today- things are looking uphill. I haven't been able to capture that great feeling from working out today, but I know it will come back with discipline and repetition.

 

Breakfast: French toast and vegan sausage

Lunch: Veggie 'Salami' Sandwich and Edamame

Dinner: Taco bell 2 burrito 2 bean tacos and soda

 

Back/Traps 10/18/2015

Weighted Pull Up 4x6x35

Deadlift 4x6x145*

One Arm DB Row 4x7x70

Bent BB Rows 4x7x120

 

*My deadlifts aren't getting better because I often skip them, get lower back pain, so I am constantly deloading and asking for advice on my form.

Edited by AutemOx
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First thing I'll say: take your legs more seriously. You mentioned "legs/other" like it's an afterthought at the end of your list...and wrote out four upper body workouts, and nothing for legs. Your lower body is half your body...without it, don't expect your upper body to progress.

 

The fact that you're "fatigued and sick" screams that your food intake is way off for your needs. Nobody really cares about the specifics about what you eat...but moreso the big picture: calories and macronutrients. What are they, and what's your stats, and what is your TDEE?

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I agree with jmf, there's no workout for your legs!

 

Look, all someone at your (and my) level needs to progress is squats. All the other stuff is just fluff really. If you have issues with your knees etc then isolation exercises can be really useful to get a pump in your muscles safely. But if you're healthy and have no existing joint issues then I say work damn hard at those squats! if your form is good then it'll work your entire (yes, entire) lower body. Thanks to Lombard's Paradox your quads and hamstrings work simultaneously to squat, even your ankle and calves get their share of the work. Anyway, sorry to harp on there, I love that exercise ;D

 

About your diet, do you practice IF? You've only listed two meals. They look like they couldn't possibly total more than 1500kcal am I right? If your goal is to get strength, then you'll likely need more calories.

 

What's your weight/gender? What's your goals? Strength, fat loss, muscle, endurance?

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I recently bought a business. I am $120,000 in debt for my business and $230,000 in debt for student loans. Most of my time is spent working or driving to and from work. I often feel tired when I get home from work, especially when I didn't sleep much the night before or when I eat poorly. I find that lack of sleep begets poor eating (due to lack of prep time) and poor eating begets poor sleep and exercise habits. This week I fell into the all too familiar routine of not getting enough sleep, not having time to prep my meals in the morning, and then eating poorly, and then feeling too tired to work out. One of my main goals for posting here is to improve my awareness of this negative cycle and correct my sleep/diet so that I can have better and more frequent work outs. Time management is going to help me control my sleep and diet more than anything else. Ironically tonight I stayed up till 11:30 writing this log instead of sleeping; hope it was worth it.

 

Arms 10/19/2015

BB Curls 3x5x85

Close Grip Bench 3x5x135

Preacher curls DB 3x4x45

Standing French Press 3x7x50

Bent Over 1-Arm Tricep Ext 3x6x25

Hammer Curls 2x4x45

 

Sleep: approx 8 hours

 

Breakfast: Cant remember

Lunch: Chili (black bean and homony)

Dinner: Tofurky Sausage (2) stir-fry with veggies

 

10/20/2015

Unable to work out too busy with work and seeing an evil female. last time did shoulders: 8 days ago.

 

Sleep: approx 5 hours

 

Breakfast: Vega Shake

Lunch: Subway sandwich + whole pack tofurky sandwich meat

Dinner: Red Curry and rice

 

10/21/2015

Failed to work out feeling very tired from <6 hours sleep the last two nights. played a video game. last time did shoulders: 9 days ago.

 

Last Sleep: approx 5 hours (had stayed up w evil female)

 

Breakfast: Vega Shake

Lunch: Veggie burrito, chips, soda

Dinner: Spaghetti w Tofurky Sausage and Brocolli

 

Cardio 10/22/2015

Boxing 90 minutes after work.

 

Last Sleep: approx 6 hours (had stayed up playing a video game, gah really bad)

 

Breakfast: Shredded Wheat

Lunch: Red Robin Boca Burger, Fries, Soda

Dinner: Cant remember

 

Shoulders 10/23/2015

Did not finish todays work out because got held up seeing someone after work. Last time did shoulders: 10/12 (11 days ago, should be 7! gah)

 

Last Sleep: approx 6 hours (stayed up working, should have just saved the work for daytime)

 

Military Press 4x4.7x110

Upright DB Rows 4x6x60

Front Raise 4x6x45

Reverse DB Flys 4x6x22

Shrugs 4x8x160

 

Breakfast: Taco bell 2 bean taco, 1 burrito, soda

Lunch: None

Dinner: Red Robin Boca Burger, Fries, Soda

 

First thing I'll say: take your legs more seriously. You mentioned "legs/other" like it's an afterthought at the end of your list...and wrote out four upper body workouts, and nothing for legs. Your lower body is half your body...without it, don't expect your upper body to progress.

 

The fact that you're "fatigued and sick" screams that your food intake is way off for your needs. Nobody really cares about the specifics about what you eat...but moreso the big picture: calories and macronutrients. What are they, and what's your stats, and what is your TDEE?

 

Thank you. I'm planning to integrate squats 3x a week. The last couple months there was something in particular making me fatigue and sick feeling, so just being done with that will be good for me, but my diet and sleep is going to be big for improving the fatigue too! I'm not sure what my TDEE is. I did spend a couple weeks attempting to calculate it but I just couldn't find the time (a big issue for me). I have been between 170-174 lbs for over a year now, have lost some fat and gained muscle .

 

I agree with jmf, there's no workout for your legs!

 

Look, all someone at your (and my) level needs to progress is squats. All the other stuff is just fluff really. If you have issues with your knees etc then isolation exercises can be really useful to get a pump in your muscles safely. But if you're healthy and have no existing joint issues then I say work damn hard at those squats! if your form is good then it'll work your entire (yes, entire) lower body. Thanks to Lombard's Paradox your quads and hamstrings work simultaneously to squat, even your ankle and calves get their share of the work. Anyway, sorry to harp on there, I love that exercise ;D

 

About your diet, do you practice IF? You've only listed two meals. They look like they couldn't possibly total more than 1500kcal am I right? If your goal is to get strength, then you'll likely need more calories.

 

What's your weight/gender? What's your goals? Strength, fat loss, muscle, endurance?

 

Thank you. I will incorporate squats 3x a week. I listed 2 meals because that day had not been completed yet/I had not yet eaten dinner. I am 28, male, 5"10, 172lbs. My longterm goals are body building/appearance. Since I am early on I am focused on strength. I also incorporating some cardio in the form of boxing and running but that is more for social and confidence purposes. Priority is body building.

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10/24/2015

Was supposed to work out this morning, caught up on sleep instead. Going to try and do it tonight but have to go cheer on friend in mma tournament.

 

Last Sleep: Slept 9 hours.

 

Breakfast: shredded wheat

Lunch: TJ's indian food

Dinner:

 

 

Sounds like it's going well! BTW if you miss shoulders but get your push/pull workouts in then it's really not so bad. They will get your posterior and anterior delts just fine.

 

Thank you I was actually wondering that... So if a week has gone by I should just move on to push/pull. I will do that. But hopefully I won't have to as I improve time management

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