Nosaj First Cycle commenced 31.10.12

N

Nosaj

New Member
SD finished yesterday so I had my first workout last night.

Considering the light weights it felt a bit brutal. What I found startling was how the quick the workout was done 34 minutes (after warm up and before cool down). Really felt it last night, but this morning aside from a bit of a heavy feeling in my legs alls OK. Next one is on Thursday.

Aiming for 3000 calories (bodyweight 161 lbs) and looking for a split 43% carbs 37% Protein (which will give me over 1.5g of protein per lb of bodyweight ) 20% Fat - after logging my food for the last 3 days I have been around 49% carbs 39% Protein and 12% fat with about 40% sat fat so needs a bit of tweaking.

Will post up pics and stats at the end.

Workout plan below

[TABLE="width: 171"]
[TR]
[TD]A
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Squat
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Standing OHP
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Barbell Row
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Incline Bench
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Shrug
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Upright row
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Barbell curl
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]leg EDIT: Extension !
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Standing Calf Raise
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]B
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Deadlift
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Standing OHP
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Lat Pull down (wide grip)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Incline Bench
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Shrug
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Upright row
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Pully Curl
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]leg - EDIT: Extension !
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Standing Calf Raise
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
 
Last edited:
You may want to swap out the leg curl on a B day for leg extensions. I'd imagine that as things get heavy, your hams will not appreciate being hit twice on deadlift day.
 
_tim said:
You may want to swap out the leg curl on a B day for leg extensions. I'd imagine that as things get heavy, your hams will not appreciate being hit twice on deadlift day.
Click to expand...

Ooops. Perhaps I should have put down the correct exercise I am performing. Although they are listed as curls I am actually performing extensions. Have edited my Original post. My hams get toasted from Squats as well.
 
Fantastic start 3 work outs in to 15's get called away on an urgent work trip to Cairo, then come down with a rather nasty case of man flu and a chest infection!!! so have had another decondition except there was nothing strategic about this decondition at all !

On the flip side My diet is now more in line with the Macro nutrients planned and I will be back in the gym on Sunday starting fifteens all over again. I still have the last remnants of my infection to get rid of but should be back up to speed again very soon.

Hate unplanned stufflike that.
 
I have spent the last month or so experimenting (or faffing around) trying to find a workout that fits for me. As I also cycle and do Karate I found that by the time I got to the second week of 15s I was f'......d or my shoulder was playing me up or some other niggly pain was present. This is not helped by my age (41) and that I have never really trained with weights much before now.

Finally I have a workout established that so far seems to be working well either that or all the extra experimenting has finally conditioned my body to working out.

My last day of 15's is tomorrow and I feel I am going to go into the tens with far more energy than the last couple of attempts

Workout:
Alternate Squat / Deadlift
Standing OHP
Lat Pull down (wide grip)
Incline Bench
Shrug
Barbell curl
Leg Extn
Standing Calf Raise
Upright row

In terms of gains I am using the mirror as my progress tracker. I am normally my own harshest critic but I can see a bit of growth already and a slight change in body shape (including a drop in fat)

The weights are going up as planned and yesterday I hit my previously established 15R max for the squat quite easily so I could have probably added more weight to the bar.
 
Nosaj said:
In terms of gains I am using the mirror as my progress tracker. I am normally my own harshest critic but I can see a bit of growth already and a slight change in body shape (including a drop in fat)

The weights are going up as planned and yesterday I hit my previously established 15R max for the squat quite easily so I could have probably added more weight to the bar.
Click to expand...

That's great! Well done and hope you can stay well.

No need to add weight to the bar just yet as it'll be going up during 10s in any case. Once you get to your 5RM workout, if you think you have plenty left in the tank, keep incrementing the load over the next few workouts until you find your new 5RMs. Use those as your 5RMs to work towards for your next cycle. For your new 15RMs and 10RMs, rather than retest, you could just add an amount that you think you can manage for your next cycle. As long as the loads are going up cycle-on-cycle then you are making progress.

All the best. :)
 
Thanks LOL

First set of tens completed, Next workout tonight.

I left my Training plan at work so did not have it handy on the Saturday and had to rely on guesswork which meant that I completed two or three exercises about 2.5 kilos heavier than my starting weights should have been.

I am doing 2x10 I did 1x15. I started on the 15s with what I consider to be very light weights so I went straight into the work sets on the 15's (after an initial warm up). Now on 10s adding in a warm up set and the extra 5 reps although not sounding a lot has made make a huge difference. I cannot stop eating. I had meals planned that tracked macro ratios, this worked until the last two workouts of fifteens but has now gone to the wall. I am stuffing my face over and above my set meals. At the moment I am still eating fairly clean but I dread to think what I will be eating come 5s!!

Todays food has been
Bulk shake with Semi Skimmed Milk 1st thing am Breakfast 1
Breakfast 2 Yoghurt & Muesli
1 apple
1 orange
Cous Cous with Veg & a large chicken breast
BLT baguette (unplanned)
Its 2pm!!!!
 
Second day of tens duly completed.

After the first day of tens I Thought I would really struggle with the incremental weight increase in the second work out but I blasted through no problems (and I have a pesky head cold).

Have added in hanging leg raises on two of the workouts, so the abs get a little blast, the shoulders get a good stretch and also good prep work for when I swap the pull downs for chins/pull ups during the negatives on fives.

The raging hunger has diminished somewhat but I still feel peckish most of the time must have been the onset of the cold
 
After Flying through Tuesdays workout Thursdays workout was very tough. I got it done but just felt I was going through the motions. Saturdays workout was far better.


I was going to wait until the end of my first cycle to do stats but I had to have a measure as my trousers felt a little tighter especially around the thighs and backside.

Arm Size has increased by 1.5 inches. Thigh's have gone up by three inches !!! and body weight up from 161 pounds to 169 pounds and that is a fairly lean increase as my belly looks a bit flatter.

My arms and legs have always been skinny and my torso larger but flabbier but at least my legs now no longer look like candlesticks with hairs on!

Seeing results gets you really hooked on this.

I will try my hardest to avoid any more measuring between now and the end of my first cycle as I really don't want to get OCD

Two more tens to go then i'm on fives by the end of the week.
 
Penultimate session of tens last night. Legs are aching today and a bit of pain in my knee which was not there last night or this morning.
 
Half way there. Last tens workout last night.

Here are my achivements at the halfway point:

Bodyweight up 8 pounds
Bicep size up 1.5 inches
Chest from 40 to 42 inches
Waist static
Thighs up 3 inches

When I first started lifting I was more or less a complete novice. I had never performed a squat, deadlift or OHP in my 40 years on this earth. My shoulder press was embarrsingly weak and I struggled to get the Olympic bar over my head for more than about 2 reps my starting weight on this exercise was 22lbs

Last night (these weights will seem puny but to me they are an achievement:
2x10 deadlift @ 110lbs completed easily
2x10 deadlift @ 77lbs completed easily
2x10 OHP @55lbs completed easily (Olympic bar + 5 kilos)

My 10 rep maxes established when I started meant that I really felt my last workout however I was not near failure on most of the exercises and I know when I get to negs on the fives the weight will go up.

Bring on the fives !
 
Halfway through the fives now and my previously established maxes are looking likely to be easily broken come the negatives.

I intend ditching Barbell curls and lat pull down and adding the following alternate Narrow grip Chin ups with wide grip pull ups, Dips.
 
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