Adam's Physique Clinic

Progress picture

Arms and chest seem more defined, certainly not the stomach.

10-15 more lbs is probably all that belly can take, and then begins the cut.

Great job

[quote]acelement wrote:

  1. My volume for lower body has been lowered drastically. I have reached my ideal proportions (or even exceeded them) for my lower body, but I have a good inch to add to my arms and neck, so my focus is much more on upper body, so gains I guess are supposed to slow down…how much weight can you possibly gain when trying to add most of your weight onto your arms and shoulders, right?
  2. Sort of reinforces the first point, but I haven’t adjusted my meal plan in a while. My gains have slowed down and I think at 206.5 I should probably bump up my calories again.

I was checking my measurements again, and I figured out some more information on my body. I have 7’’ wrists, which is small for someone my size (Jules Bacon had 7’’ wrists, and he was a leaner in bodybuilding, not to mention a good 3.5’’ shorter than me). That probably adds to why my bench is so low. However, I have 9.5’’ ankles…they’re bigger than Steve Reeves, who was no Reg Park, but certainly much more massive than the smaller guys in the field (like Bacon). So I have the upper body of an ecto, and a lower body of a meso…this would explain why my quickest bodyweight gains came on the weeks where my lower body work was heaviest, not to mention why my lower numbers are so much higher (relatively) than my upper body numbers.

I wonder how that plays out for symmetry - I have disproportionately small wrists, and slightly larger ankles…ok well I’m rambling at this point, but I’ve decided since I’m about right down the middle of a Meso/Ecto as you can get, I think I’ll settle for a weight between an ecto and a meso, 195-200. This means my bulk will probably stop around 215-220, less than I thought. So if I get my ass back in gear with my meal plan and get back up to 3 lb / week, I should be done by between Sept 15 and Sept 22.

Workout is late tonight, hopefully posting big numbers.[/quote]

Adam, I’ve a couple of points to make on your progress.

1)Your progress so far is impressive especially over the relatively short timeframe. I applaud you for doing the work, eating right AND blogging the log so to speak. Well done and definitely keep up the great attitude.

2)Your advice for the average “newbie” was spot on. You’ve obviously learnt “OUR” secret ;o)

3)I wouldn’t slow down on the lower body if I were you. I know you say you’ve reached or exceeded your goals for your legs but this could be a big mistake. These are big muscle groups that will help to regulate your weight both up and down. You’d be suprised how small they will look to you when you finish a cutting cycle

  1. OK. Here’s the biggy IMO. Somebody mentioned you look like you haven’t put on bodyfat. I think you have (not too much yet but the alarm bells rang when I read you wanted to add another 15lbs and I’m presuming you mean drug free). This is to be expected doing this over such a short period of time but I do think you are coming to a point sooner than you think. A lot of people I’ve met (and trained with) get addicted to the scale and adding weight to their lifts to the point where they are strong but haven’t seen their abs in 15 or 20 years. Not to say you will do this but I think you should consider getting to about 10 - 12 % bf. There is certainly no reason to go over this to keep adding muscle It will do great for you body image, your gf and family will like it, your arms and pecs will “look” bigger and you will know what is “under the hood”.

Just an opinion from an over 35 lifter by the way. Keep up the good work and I’ll be popping in to check on your progress from time to time.

[quote]Intersweat wrote:
acelement wrote:

  1. My volume for lower body has been lowered drastically. I have reached my ideal proportions (or even exceeded them) for my lower body, but I have a good inch to add to my arms and neck, so my focus is much more on upper body, so gains I guess are supposed to slow down…how much weight can you possibly gain when trying to add most of your weight onto your arms and shoulders, right?
  2. Sort of reinforces the first point, but I haven’t adjusted my meal plan in a while. My gains have slowed down and I think at 206.5 I should probably bump up my calories again.

I was checking my measurements again, and I figured out some more information on my body. I have 7’’ wrists, which is small for someone my size (Jules Bacon had 7’’ wrists, and he was a leaner in bodybuilding, not to mention a good 3.5’’ shorter than me). That probably adds to why my bench is so low. However, I have 9.5’’ ankles…they’re bigger than Steve Reeves, who was no Reg Park, but certainly much more massive than the smaller guys in the field (like Bacon). So I have the upper body of an ecto, and a lower body of a meso…this would explain why my quickest bodyweight gains came on the weeks where my lower body work was heaviest, not to mention why my lower numbers are so much higher (relatively) than my upper body numbers.

I wonder how that plays out for symmetry - I have disproportionately small wrists, and slightly larger ankles…ok well I’m rambling at this point, but I’ve decided since I’m about right down the middle of a Meso/Ecto as you can get, I think I’ll settle for a weight between an ecto and a meso, 195-200. This means my bulk will probably stop around 215-220, less than I thought. So if I get my ass back in gear with my meal plan and get back up to 3 lb / week, I should be done by between Sept 15 and Sept 22.

Workout is late tonight, hopefully posting big numbers.

Adam, I’ve a couple of points to make on your progress.

1)Your progress so far is impressive especially over the relatively short timeframe. I applaud you for doing the work, eating right AND blogging the log so to speak. Well done and definitely keep up the great attitude.

2)Your advice for the average “newbie” was spot on. You’ve obviously learnt “OUR” secret ;o)

3)I wouldn’t slow down on the lower body if I were you. I know you say you’ve reached or exceeded your goals for your legs but this could be a big mistake. These are big muscle groups that will help to regulate your weight both up and down. You’d be suprised how small they will look to you when you finish a cutting cycle

  1. OK. Here’s the biggy IMO. Somebody mentioned you look like you haven’t put on bodyfat. I think you have (not too much yet but the alarm bells rang when I read you wanted to add another 15lbs and I’m presuming you mean drug free). This is to be expected doing this over such a short period of time but I do think you are coming to a point sooner than you think. A lot of people I’ve met (and trained with) get addicted to the scale and adding weight to their lifts to the point where they are strong but haven’t seen their abs in 15 or 20 years. Not to say you will do this but I think you should consider getting to about 10 - 12 % bf. There is certainly no reason to go over this to keep adding muscle It will do great for you body image, your gf and family will like it, your arms and pecs will “look” bigger and you will know what is “under the hood”.

Just an opinion from an over 35 lifter by the way. Keep up the good work and I’ll be popping in to check on your progress from time to time.

[/quote]

I’m going to go as far as saying that his bodyfat looks even lower than when he started but thats just what my eyes see.

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:

I’m going to go as far as saying that his bodyfat looks even lower than when he started but thats just what my eyes see.[/quote]

Just talking from personal experience, Ronaldo - obviously a Man Utd fan - uuggghh ;o)

When I started I went from 147 to 236 lbs in just over 18 months. I got bigger and it felt great to be big for the first time in my life but there was a good bit of fat. I did get down to under 10% bf later but it was a bitch to do, and if I had to do it again I would do it differently.

Of course, I know Adam won’t end up doing this ;o)

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/how_not_to_bulk_this_guy_got_it_very_wrong

[quote]Intersweat wrote:
ronaldo7 wrote:

I’m going to go as far as saying that his bodyfat looks even lower than when he started but thats just what my eyes see.

Just talking from personal experience, Ronaldo - obviously a Man Utd fan - uuggghh ;o)

When I started I went from 147 to 236 lbs in just over 18 months. I got bigger and it felt great to be big for the first time in my life but there was a good bit of fat. I did get down to under 10% bf later but it was a bitch to do, and if I had to do it again I would do it differently.

Of course, I know Adam won’t end up doing this ;o)

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/how_not_to_bulk_this_guy_got_it_very_wrong

[/quote]

He winks on the left, he winks on the right that boy ronaldo made england look shite…oh you’re not from England lol.

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for reading this – it always humbles me that people actually pay attention to what I do, and I REALLY appreciate the feedback – that’s exactly what I’m looking for.

Today was a HUGE day for me, because I finally learned how to squat like powerlifters. These two beasts showed me the ropes and SHIT. By simply putting the bar BELOW my traps, I was amazed at how much more CENTERED I was, how I didn’t feel so top heavy, and my weights SOARED!

I literally did 255x8 and didnt’ feel fatigued at all. I could have easily done another 8, if not more. Actually I did another 7 right afterward, with not even a few seconds rest and banged them out…

…ALL because I changed my center of gravity – and I have witnesses that these were legit reps, the guy even said “those were great sets - you have great form kid”. FUCK YES! Physics rocks! This brings my current maxes to the following:

Deadlift: 390
Squat: 370
Bench: 240

TOTAL: 1000

YES!!!

FUCK YES!!!

I FINALLY reached the 1000 lb club! This has been a goal of mine for a long time, and it made it a helluva lot easier for me to achieve once I learned how to fucking squat!

This is awesome…well enough rambling, on to my day

THURSDAY - DAY 81

A) Bench - I did DB bench today because I didn’t have a spotter… (weights are measured PER dumbbell)
75x7, 85x7, 95x6, 95x4, 85x6, 85x6

B) Bent-row
6x6 @ 155 for 1, 165 for the last 5

C) Squat
bad form at 225x5, 245x5, 255x5
then good form at 255x7, 255x8, 255x15

HELL

FUCKING

YES

[quote]acelement wrote:
Hey guys,

Thanks so much for reading this – it always humbles me that people actually pay attention to what I do, and I REALLY appreciate the feedback – that’s exactly what I’m looking for.

Today was a HUGE day for me, because I finally learned how to squat like powerlifters. These two beasts showed me the ropes and SHIT. By simply putting the bar BELOW my traps, I was amazed at how much more CENTERED I was, how I didn’t feel so top heavy, and my weights SOARED!

I literally did 255x8 and didnt’ feel fatigued at all. I could have easily done another 8, if not more. Actually I did another 7 right afterward, with not even a few seconds rest and banged them out…

…ALL because I changed my center of gravity – and I have witnesses that these were legit reps, the guy even said “those were great sets - you have great form kid”. FUCK YES! Physics rocks! This brings my current maxes to the following:

Deadlift: 390
Squat: 370
Bench: 240

TOTAL: 1000

YES!!!

FUCK YES!!!

I FINALLY reached the 1000 lb club! This has been a goal of mine for a long time, and it made it a helluva lot easier for me to achieve once I learned how to fucking squat!

This is awesome…well enough rambling, on to my day

THURSDAY - DAY 81

A) Bench - I did DB bench today because I didn’t have a spotter… (weights are measured PER dumbbell)
75x7, 85x7, 95x6, 95x4, 85x6, 85x6

B) Bent-row
6x6 @ 155 for 1, 165 for the last 5

C) Squat
bad form at 225x5, 245x5, 255x5
then good form at 255x7, 255x8, 255x15

HELL

FUCKING

YES
[/quote]

can you explain a little further on the placement of the bar…I don’t really understand and tomorrow is a squat day for me so it will come in handy.

[quote]
can you explain a little further on the placement of the bar…I don’t really understand and tomorrow is a squat day for me so it will come in handy.[/quote]

Ronaldo…

A lot of people place the bar at base of their neck which makes them top heavy and more likely to rock forward and bend too much, especially with the heavier weights. You should place it on your traps as low as possible. If you haven’t done it before it should feel like its “almost” going to roll down your back. I get trainees to do it first with a light weight on to a box squat. Sit down on a 12" box or bench and make sure you sit right back until your back is pretty much vertical . You want to have the feeling that your ass is going back on the box and not just down. If you feel like your feet are going to slip forward you haven’t sat back far enough.

Adam. Got your PM. Will answer properly when I get back from the gym.

SUMMER REVIEW:

Started out at 175, made it up to just under 210. Goal was accomplished, and now I begin a cut down to 190 – well, I’m transferring to a new scale at my school, which is medical-grade, so that will give more accurate weight measurements, and thus I might bulk only for a few more weeks until I can get a solid 210 under my belt. My new goal (after verifying I’m at 210) is to get to 10% bodyfat, and that should do it. From there, adding on more muscle than fat will be easy, and I just need to add another 5-10 lbs.

To accomplish part two of the goal, I am going to use the V-Diet. I purchased some body fat calipers and will take some measurements later on this week. It’s a pretty drastic move, but I have a bet with my girlfriend that I can lose the weight before New Years, so looks like I’m gonna win this one, especially with the V-Diet!

New pics and more to come on Tuesday, takin it easy for Labor Day weekend (I earned it!) I was moving in yesterday, and I consider that my workout (at one point, I was deadlifting a 3 seater couch w/ a bed in it, and I haven’t sweat like that in a LOOOONG time).

I can not talk from experience, but I have read that it is generally a bad idea to do a bulk and then cut immediatly after. Do you plan to eat and maintain at 210 for a bit before the cut?

DAY 87 - WEDNESDAY

I was just slammed in the face with a huge dose of reality.

My skin fold calipers arrived, and after much trepidation and experimentation, I have concluded that my body fat is at a staggering 17%.

Fuck.

Stopping the bulk now was a smart move, and now begins the dreaded cut, though the good news is that I was correct in assuming that if I drop down to 190, I’ll be just below 10% body fat, which is exactly what I hoped to accomplish, and the V-Diet should get me there.

the V-Diet so far is pretty easy – my meals are cheaper, and I’m not having problem being hungry because those shakes are actually pretty filling…in fact, I need to have one now!

Anyway, here are my lifts for today:

A1) Push press

8x5 @ 135 – not the same as bradford press because sitting down is much easier to lift weight than standing up, for sure

A2) Chin ups
8x5 @ bodyweight – should probably start adding weight next week, or making sure all reps are even wider

B) Deadlift
7x5 @ 315, 1x3 @ 315
An improvement over last week…my volume increased by 3 reps, and I had even less food/energy to work with, so that must count for something. Next week I hope to get all 5 reps in on the end.

Great log acelement! Great progress… after my last tattoo session I’ll be trying your stuff out 30+lbs in 2 months is great!

As far as the V-Diet is concerned… from what I’ve read it’s generally a bad idea if you’re under 20% bf.

After reading several other logs I’d just recommend cutting your calls by 250-450 per week while maintaining your intensity in the gym. BF will drop gradually (healthier) and you’ll maintain, if not, gain muscle. Just my two cents :slight_smile:

[quote]
A1) Push press

8x5 @ 135 – not the same as bradford press because sitting down is much easier to lift weight than standing up, for sure

A2) Chin ups
8x5 @ bodyweight – should probably start adding weight next week, or making sure all reps are even wider

B) Deadlift
7x5 @ 315, 1x3 @ 315
An improvement over last week…my volume increased by 3 reps, and I had even less food/energy to work with, so that must count for something. Next week I hope to get all 5 reps in on the end.[/quote]

Well done on these lifts Adam. Keep thinking heavy even on the diet ;o)

I like the exercises you’re doing here. Are you timing your rests between sets? With only 3 exercises I would suggest you keep a record on how long you spend on each exercise. When the diet really kicks in there might come a time where you can’t increase the weight like you have been. I’ve found that if I get stuck on a weight I can still increase intensity by reducing total time for completion (especially when dieting). Just a thought.

You mention “wider” for chin ups. Do you mean pull-ups i.e pronated grip??? Pull-ups do use the arms slightly less and put some extra stress on the lats BUT there is a substantially shorter range of motion. I would consider “wider” pull-ups on the first 4 sets (as they are harder than chins) and chins on the last 4. Doing 5 reps everytime tells me you have something left in the tank in the first 5 or 6 sets. There are different opinions on this but over the last 6 years of my training I’ve gone balls to the wall in every set with great results (obviously if it doesn’t work for you stick with your current rep scheme). Depending on bodyweight I could end up with 12,10,9,8 for example. If this happens I would add a weighted vest or DB for the first 2 sets next time. As you get closer to 10% bf you’ll really start to fly on BW exercises like this.

As Poliquin says “over 10% bf is fat”. I would say you’ll be happy enough with 12% (until summer next year anyway) but I know you have a bet with your gf. You’ve done your calculations and I think you just need to stick to your diet and training until this time next week. At that point reassess your bf and bw. Different people loose different amounts on the v diet and sometimes this can be partly muscle. So lets hope you do even better on this workout next week as this will be the true test and if needs be you might need to make some “minor” tweaks.

Keep it up. You’re really gonna learn about your own body over the next month ;o)

Good luck!!

[quote]Intersweat wrote:
Are you timing your rests between sets?
[/quote]

Absolutely. I’m following the rest protocols on the Shotgun method to a T, however I must mention that rest in between the deadlift gradually increased to just under 3 minutes by the last set, but everything else was exactly as prescribed in the shotgun method (90-120 sec, depending on the exercise)

Yeah sorry, I meant wide-grip PULL ups…I’ve only been doing pull ups actually. Trying to develop back width. The difference is that I may have all sets down, but I need to get all sets down w/ the WIDE grip. It’s usually the first few sets are wide, then I have to alternate between wide and regular grip pull-ups.

This is one hell of an experiment, I just have been so busy with moving into my new apartment/school that I haven’t had a chance to find a scale, so I hope my 17% was still at 207 and not lower, or else my body weight has to drop even further back to my old norms :frowning:

And as far as the comment about “V-diet bad below 20%”…I mean, I’m just below 20%, and the moment you start the V-diet at 20% your bf% drops, so you could rationalize that I did a few weeks of the V-diet already haha. Anyway, I’m sticking to the V-diet, because if I can put on the muscle that fast, I can surely lose the fat that fast, I’m certainly dedicated enough.

Off to class!

Good to see you’re following shotgun to the tee. Forgot about that actually… oops. Thinking I’m doing too many tnation posts at the same time.

There are two schools of thought on the wide grip for wide back idea. As I said the wide grip IS more lats but has a restricted range of motion. I like to cover both bases by doing wide grip and then chins (hands beside each other and supinated grip).

Don’t forget, Chris designed this for getting himself from 12% or so down to single digit numbers and from my own experience also it works. Not sure where mpenix read this but I was under the impression the opposite was true. Sorry mpenix for disagreeing on this ;o)

DAY 88 - Thursday

A) Seated rope pulls to neck
5x12 @ 70lb
different pulley system because I’m at my school gym instead of my summer gym, so that’s just going ot have to be the new benchmark

B1) Standing DB curls
40x5, then three sets @ 30-35x5 seated at the preacher machine (so basically DB preacher), then another set standing again for 35x5. Basically someone stole my weights so I had to work around it.

I don’t know if this is bad or not, but I can’t seem to get past 40x5, that’s still really damn hard.

B2) Close grip bench (supinated grip)
5x5 @ 185 - should get up to 7 reps next week, this is a great weight, definitely more than last week

C) Supinated and pronated wrist curls
5x12 @ 20lb for pronated grip, 30lb for supinated grip. No more wrist rollers means I’m running out of ideas for my wrists, and I really need to maintain that size (or add onto) my forearms

D) Calf machine
4x12 @ 270, 1x18 @ 250
Without a neck machine (and because my neck is up to where I want it to be), I did calves. Though in retrospect, I think I’m going to replace neck with abs – I haven’t done any core work whatsoever in months, and it’s always good for your body, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt during a cut.

Since Monday, I’ve had 3 solid meals – 2 of them were because Monday morning I was still moving into my apartment and hadn’t gotten the chance to go shopping. Nonetheless, if I keep that pace I’ll stick to 90% adherence.

THIS IS TOUGH. I already had hunger pains and longing for solid food. My girlfriend was devouring a wrap and I was hungry as hell – and I ate but only 2 hours ago! I’ve droppped over 2000 calories from my daily consumption, and only 4 days in I am feeling the pain.

This is going to be a long month, but I’m soooo psyched that I have some great people checking in on me and motivating me to succeed – thanks so much for everyone that is reading and cheering me on!

I’ve found splitting my shakes into single scoops every 60-90 minutes holds off the hunger pangs. Milled flax seeds or flax seed oil (if you can get/keep it fresh) will add the necessary fibre and again, ease the pain.

You’ll do this no problem Adam. It gets easier. You’ll find your appreciation for good clean food after about 2 weeks.

DAY 89 (DAY 5 of V-Diet): Friday

A) Bench
155x5, 185x5, 205x5, 210x5, 210x4, 210x3
Probably should stay at this weight

B) Bent row
6x5 @ 185 (last set I actually made it to 6, so I’ll probably up 10 lbs next week)

C) Squat
225x5, 275x5, 295x5, 300x5, 300x1, 225x10
I just lost the gas for that last set…so I took off some weight and just banged out some reps. It’s too fucking hot out today.

The heat is feeding into my exhaustion even more than the severe lack of calories. I have to say though, I feel like the fat is melting off like an ice cube on the surface of the Sun. Can’t wait to see what I weigh/body fat next Monday!

I guess the numbers are going up

Did you take the skinfold measurements yourself? How many sites? I have some of the cheaper calipers and I never trust what I get.

And yeah, I kind of suck. I’m stuck around 195 ish, but thats after getting terribly sick twice in a 45 day period during my ‘summer bulk’. So props to you bc you beat me and you are already cutting.

Good luck with the diet.