Bulk Cycle #3

M

markobenin

New Member
Workout #1

I'm skipping the 15s this cycle in order to have a shortened bulk cycle that I'll be done with before basketball season which starts in mid january for me. Hopefully I get to 225lbs by the season, and I can use basketball as my cardio to do a cut phase after this third bulk cycle.

Squats: 225lbs - 2x10
Flat Bench: 150lbs - 3x10
BB Row: 105lbs - 3x10
Military Press: 105lbs - 3x10

So I felt solid on the squats but as soon as I finished my 1st set, the back of my legs along my hamstrings just got very sore/cramped and I could hardly walk after that. The bench was good, although I had to cluster the last set 8/2 reps cuz I felt like I was coming to failure on the 8th rep. BB Rows felt easy and solid, and same for military press.

Weights: 212-213lbs - I seem to have lost a few pounds during my 11 day SD but I think that's a result of not eating enough during the SD period. I'm gonna eat like no other for the next 4-6 weeks of this phase and hopefully reach my goal of 225lbs before my bball season.
 
Your weight loss could be water weight / standard fluctuations too. Routine looks solid and simple... basketball is great cardio!
 
You might want to "cut" 2 days out of the week, Hugo Rivera style to keep the body from accumulating too much fat. I'm going to adapt this idea myself, I only thought it was useful for carb 'refeeds' when cutting; never thought of using it in reverse. Here's a clip from his article:
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">&quot;Now, for gaining muscle, I see two mistakes. The first one is that way too many calories are consumed and that bodybuilders allow themselves to go way above 10% body fat and as a result they simply get fat. Guess what? For most of us there is no need to consume such a huge amount of calories. Only hardgainers, which are the minority, need to do this as well as some mesomorphs. Most of us only need around 500-700 calories above maintenance, making sure that two days out of 7 calories are lowered. Why? Because these two lower calorie days will deplete the body a bit of carbohydrates and therefore prevent a situation where the body feels it is being overfed and starts to store a ton of calories as fat.&quot;</div>
At 225, you won't be getting 'bumped' very often on the courts!
 
He could always center most of his calorie consumption around the workout... pre-workout protein followed up by 12-24 hours of bulk after the workout.
 
Not to hijack the log (sorry if it comes across that way) but Mark - read, re-read and re-read again that whole post from quad. That's some of the best advice you could be given - you need to know that you are truly bulking your mass, not just adding fat. Bulk the healthy way, and the results will greatly enhance your basketball game in more ways than simply being able to destroy skinny bitches in the paint.
 
Well as I said, I will do this last shortened bulk cycle and see whatever weight I end up with, then use bball and HST to cut down. I'm definitely still pretty lean IMO, and I don't think I have bulked too extremely, as I have not gained more than ~2lbs in one week during my first two HST cycles.

I'll look more into the details involved with cutting once I am done with this cycle...but from my understanding so far, you guys suggest I have a regular diet of bulking 5 days out of the week, and only deplete my calories for 2 days? I can't see how that would lead to fat loss...then again I am not that educated in &quot;cutting phases&quot; so I may be wrong.
 
Acutally they were talking about bulking 5 day son, 2 days off. not cutting. For cutting you want to do the opposite. 5 days starving, 2 days eating...
laugh.gif
 
Exactly. It's really about avoiding adaptation. We are the most adaptable beings on the planet. The real downside is that for some of us, regardless of cutting or bulking, the survival adaptations lend us to storing fat. The switching keeps the body &quot;guessing&quot;, for lack of a better word.
 
<div>
(scientific muscle @ Dec. 19 2007,00:22)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Acutally they were talking about bulking 5 day son, 2 days off. not cutting. For cutting you want to do the opposite. 5 days starving, 2 days eating...
laugh.gif
</div>
That sounds like the Kelly Baggett diet -- ultra low carbs and calories for five days, then pig out for two.
 
When would be the most optimal two days to reduce caloric intake on a bulking week? I imagine this would be when you are not lifting, so that time would be the weekends for most people.
 
Unfortunately, that part of the info from Hugo is in the paid section: after you buy the Ebook for $40. All I got was four 'teasers' for free, but were very informative.
http://www.steroid-encyclopaedia.com/hr.php
-I just found it very interesting that the steroid-encyclopaedia people thought enough of him (a natty BB'er) to recommend his books.
 
Workout #2

Deadlifts: 225lbs - 2x10
Dips: BW - 3x10
Chins: 5 assist - 3x10
Military press: 110lbs - 3x10

I felt VERY solid on the deadlifts today, felt very easy and feather-light. The dips were good too, even though the last set got a little tough at the end. The chins gave me some problems, enough to have to cluster the last two sets at the end of each set - I'll probably keep the weight on chins the same for next workout. Military press was fine, did all 3 sets w/o a problem.

Weight: 216lbs - glad to see a jump in my weight from last workout, probably because I started eating alot again and my fluids were replenished after a few nights of drinking after my finals last week
tounge.gif
 
Workout #3

Squat: 245lbs - 2x10
Flat Bench: 160lbs - 3x10
BB Row: 115lbs - 3x10
Military Press: 115lbs - 3x10

I felt solid on the first set of squats but kinda failed on the second set, so I had to cluster it 7/3. The flat bench was solid for the first 2 sets, clustered the 3rd set 8/2. BB Rows and military press were solid.

Weight: ~218lbs - glad to see I am up to my original weight before my SD. Now on to 230lbs!
 
Haven't written a log in a while because I've been busy with school and what not, but here is what I'm lifting today for the 5RM (i'm in the extension of the 5's part right now) phase:

A:

Squat - 285lbs
Bench - 205lbs
BB Row - 175lbs
Military Press - 155lbs

B:

Deadlift - 315lbs
Dips - BW + 60lbs
Chins - BW + 35lbs
Military Press - 155lbs

Current weight is ~220lbs, although it was ~227lbs just 2-3 days ago, so some fluctuation here, hopefully can get back up to near 230lbs in the next 2-3weeks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top