Lonnie's Training/Diet Thoughts and Log

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:

[quote]timmcbride00 wrote:

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
As a college student my budget for supps is pretty limited; I just stick to 40 g whey and a poptart pre and post workout, and 50 g gatorade with 15 g bcaa’s intra. If you were to recommend one of the Biotest workout drinks to me, knowing that I can’t spend more than $3 per workout on supplements, which would you consider the best bang for my buck? Obviously I’m not asking you to figure out the cost per session for each supplement, I can do that myself if I explore the options further, but I’m interested in your experiences with each. Thanks![/quote]

I am not Lonnie and this is not a Biotest recommendation, but you’ve pretty much got it nailed down in my opinion with the whey and BCAA.

But if I may add a few peices of advice:

  1. If you are not already, get the whey in bulk to save money
  2. If you can find dextrose, buy it, if you don’t mind the initial cost for a 50lb bag (around $25 to 30) it’s way cheaper for your sugar than the gatorade and poptarts.
  3. Consider creatine, it’s literally pennies for a serving.[/quote]

This is a sound recommendation. I love my Biotest goodies but I am well aware of how much it costs (which is why I make my own “poor mans Plazma” still with Surge Workout Fuel and MAG-10

If you cant even do that, you might consider just getting Surge Recovery and using it intra, as its about the same the thing really. I like this option a little better than straight whey because the BIG thing with intraworkout is that you want Hydrolyzed protein, because the digestion process diverts a ton of blood to the gut and with hydrolyzed proteins this doesnt happen.

Even MAG-10 by itself would be a worthwhile investment. One serving During, and if you can afford it one serving 1-2 hours later would be a good addition.

… And if you cant do any of it, dont sweat it. Plenty of people have gotten big and strong without it, although I am a believer that it helps.[/quote]

Agreed with your thinking that plenty of people have gotten big and strong without the optimal supplementation; that’s been my main reason for being so minimalistic in my use of supps. I figured until I had my training and diet locked down, it would be majoring in the minor. I’m in a good place training and nutritionwise now though, so I’m considering investing a little more into supplements. If I was to go for the MAG-10, would you suggest I continue using my current whey product immediately post workout followed by a MAG-10 pulse later on? Or would the MAG-10 be sufficient? Obviously I would account for the difference in my macros if I was to eliminate the other whey product

During the workout I would not recommend regular Whey, only Hydrolyzed.

Post workout, and at other times of the day, its probably a very minimal difference, although I would give the nod to MAG-10 if you can afford it.

I doesn’t need to be one or ther other though, I dont see much harm in keeping a scoop of whey in your diet if you are gaining, it will likely only help, and if its as cheap as the whey I use its a no brainer when compared to the cost of other proteins in a price/gram breakdown (chicken/beef/eggs/etc…)

Current pic. Just took it in my bathroom so no special lighting/camera tricks/water or food manipulation. This is just my “walking around” physique. This was actually a day or so after a carb up so if anything I look a little blurry. Not bad for a naturally chubby guy who doesn’t do cardio.

Weight is about 180, and love handle area measures 35", which is my UPPER limit for where I let that get.

My love handles are 36" why don’t I look like that :frowning:

[quote]chobbs wrote:
Sorry for the derail Lonnie but Tim, I currently take 72 grams of dextrose with 8 grams of creatine intra workout while CBL so no carbs before my training other than nuts or green beans/carrots. Does this go along with my priority of strength/size?[/quote]

Creatine sounds a bit high, nothing really wrong with that, but if you are a penny pincher like me you could get away with 3 to 5g.

I would say the intra workout dextrose and creatine definitely goes along with your goal of strength and size. Make sure you are getting in protein as well.

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
Thanks Tim. I buy my whey at Max Muscle, a local store in Lincoln. Not sure if there are any around you? While it’s not the cheapest, I’m a big fan of their customer service and products, and am hoping to receive a sponsorship from them for my contest prep next summer. I think I will take your advice and look for dextrose in bulk, the initial investment would be well worth it…a tub of Gatorade powder for 4 or 5 bucks doesn’t last long at all. I’d probably be best off using the dextrose pre and post instead of poptarts, but my periworkout s’mores poptarts with a cinnamon roll protein shake is one of the highlights of my day :). As far as creatine goes, I used it all throughout high school when I was lifting solely for sports performance, but haven’t for the last several years…I guess I just didn’t “feel” much of a difference from it and don’t feel as if my performance has suffered without it. But now that I think about it, I should know that just because I don’t “feel” a supplement doesn’t mean it isn’t still providing extra nutrients or a little something for optimal recovery, and for such a cheap price I can’t see any reason not to start using creatine periworkout again. Thanks for the advice Tim
[/quote]

I’d love to hear more about your plan for getting the sponsorship…and good luck!

Look for bakery or brewery wholesalers in your area for the dextrose, it would likely be cheaper becuase you won’t have shipping, but if you can’t find it, you can still go online. 50 pounds last forever!

I can see why the poptarts would be a highlight, maybe you shouldn’t be dextrose. ; )

I’m not sure if I “feel” creatine either at this point since I always use it. But science behind it so solid. My personally favorite reason for using it has nothing to do with performance (i.e. extra reps on heavy sets) but with hydration. Creatine helps keep the cell volumized with water which helps increase protein synthesis.

3’s week this week… everything nice and crisp, not even cloooose to max weights. It looking like I picked the right weights on everything and stalling seems like A DISTANT future for me. Loving the PR sets.

5/3/1 week this week… Miscalculated my dead lift somehow and only ended up doing 280 instead of 290, didnt realize until after I did my 5x10 squats, so I wasnt too keen on hitting it for a single. I’ll just repeat this cycle to “milk” it while I increase the BBB assistance. Worst case scenario I get more quality work in and end up owning these weights even more…

[quote]timmcbride00 wrote:

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
Thanks Tim. I buy my whey at Max Muscle, a local store in Lincoln. Not sure if there are any around you? While it’s not the cheapest, I’m a big fan of their customer service and products, and am hoping to receive a sponsorship from them for my contest prep next summer. I think I will take your advice and look for dextrose in bulk, the initial investment would be well worth it…a tub of Gatorade powder for 4 or 5 bucks doesn’t last long at all. I’d probably be best off using the dextrose pre and post instead of poptarts, but my periworkout s’mores poptarts with a cinnamon roll protein shake is one of the highlights of my day :). As far as creatine goes, I used it all throughout high school when I was lifting solely for sports performance, but haven’t for the last several years…I guess I just didn’t “feel” much of a difference from it and don’t feel as if my performance has suffered without it. But now that I think about it, I should know that just because I don’t “feel” a supplement doesn’t mean it isn’t still providing extra nutrients or a little something for optimal recovery, and for such a cheap price I can’t see any reason not to start using creatine periworkout again. Thanks for the advice Tim
[/quote]

I’d love to hear more about your plan for getting the sponsorship…and good luck!

Look for bakery or brewery wholesalers in your area for the dextrose, it would likely be cheaper becuase you won’t have shipping, but if you can’t find it, you can still go online. 50 pounds last forever!

I can see why the poptarts would be a highlight, maybe you shouldn’t be dextrose. ; )

I’m not sure if I “feel” creatine either at this point since I always use it. But science behind it so solid. My personally favorite reason for using it has nothing to do with performance (i.e. extra reps on heavy sets) but with hydration. Creatine helps keep the cell volumized with water which helps increase protein synthesis.[/quote]

Thanks for the advice, Tim! I’ll look into the bulk dextrose this weekend, I’ll probably keep at least one poptart in but the dextrose would definitely be a much more cost efficient option than Gatorade. And good point regarding the creatine and muscle cell hydration, I hadn’t considered the effect on protein synthesis.

As far as plans for obtaining a sponsorship, I’m hoping to prove to Max Muscle management that I’d be a good representative of the brand and could increase their business, as I have a decent number of people (friends, teammates, family members, fellow gymgoers, etc,) who ask me for supplement/nutrition recommendations and would likely follow my contest prep through updates on Facebook. It’s funny how sometimes I feel like a big fish in a small pond at the gyms I train at and in my circle of friends, but then I log in here and an immediately reminded how much room for progress I have :). My training coach actually works at Max, so I would expect that he would vouch for me. Lots of people ask businesses or gyms to sponsor them for contest prep, but I think that a lot of competitors would go blank when asked by the prospective sponsor, “What’s in it for us?”

Sounds like you are ahead of the curve in at least a few respects… Please do make sure to keep us all posted here as to what happens with this. It sounds like an interesting turn of events no matter what happens.

If the dextrose thing doesnt end up working out, the Surge Workout Fuel here has been a staple of mine for quite a while now, you may want to try that.

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Sounds like you are ahead of the curve in at least a few respects… Please do make sure to keep us all posted here as to what happens with this. It sounds like an interesting turn of events no matter what happens.

If the dextrose thing doesnt end up working out, the Surge Workout Fuel here has been a staple of mine for quite a while now, you may want to try that.[/quote]

Thanks Lonnie, will do…I plan to do a prep log here for sure starting towards the end of May. I’ll start prep the day after baseball season ends! I hear your frustration on miscalculating your weights on deadlifts. I’m not running 5/3/1, but I have a day for singles on squats each week on my current block, and tried to make too big of a jump yesterday. I hit 5 singles at 300 last week fairly easily, and jumped to 315 this week. Got all the reps, but form started to break down on the last couple sets. Probably should have stuck to the 5 lb progression, but live and learn :slight_smile: Keep up the good work!

Cycle 1 is in the books. Not deloading as the weights are so light the first 5/3/1 cycle that there really isnt a point honestly. for the BBB section We are talking 100 pound benches, 65 pound presses, 115 pound squats, and 155 pound deads… Next cycle will be a bit different, but this one was really just a warm up.

Feeling strong though, lifts are all feeling good at this point. Cant weight for cycles 3 and on when the weights will start getting challenging.

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:

[quote]timmcbride00 wrote:
I’m not sure if I “feel” creatine either at this point since I always use it. But science behind it so solid. My personally favorite reason for using it has nothing to do with performance (i.e. extra reps on heavy sets) but with hydration. Creatine helps keep the cell volumized with water which helps increase protein synthesis.[/quote]

Thanks for the advice, Tim! I’ll look into the bulk dextrose this weekend, I’ll probably keep at least one poptart in but the dextrose would definitely be a much more cost efficient option than Gatorade. And good point regarding the creatine and muscle cell hydration, I hadn’t considered the effect on protein synthesis.
[/quote]

And on the cell volumization topic…

Today’s article
http://www.T-Nation.com/supplements/increase-cell-volume-for-fast-muscle-growth

Feeling incredibly strong this week. Nothing spectacular numbers-wise as I’m only in cycle 2 of 5/3/1 and the numbers are still though… But I’m absolutely dominating them. Did 2 extra reps on my Overhead Press versus last week at the same weight, and my dead lifts today just felt fast as hell.

Did 5x10 with 135 on squats today in 6:45… wasn’t as bad as I thought, I’m going to try and get that down to 5:00 by deload week. The pressing exercises for the BBB are definitely “harder” in terms of getting the reps in at that percentage.

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Feeling incredibly strong this week. Nothing spectacular numbers-wise as I’m only in cycle 2 of 5/3/1 and the numbers are still though… But I’m absolutely dominating them. Did 2 extra reps on my Overhead Press versus last week at the same weight, and my dead lifts today just felt fast as hell.

Did 5x10 with 135 on squats today in 6:45… wasn’t as bad as I thought, I’m going to try and get that down to 5:00 by deload week. The pressing exercises for the BBB are definitely “harder” in terms of getting the reps in at that percentage.[/quote]

The 5x10 squats in 5 minutes takes me back to high school football! That was a dreaded day haha, our coach called them “AK’s” (rapid fire I suppose). Obviously you’re still not very far into 5/3/1, but how are you enjoying your training compared to CT’s layers? Good change of pace? Do you anticipate trying the layers again at some point if equipment allows for it?

5/3/1 is a nice change of pace. I have always liked the one, all-out set type of programming in it.

CT’s layers were phenomenal, really great system… It’s actually what lead me back to 5/3/1 in a way because it showed me the power of using minimal movements. It “gave me permission” to just “Squat and leave” whereas before I was adding tons of stuff to the program.

I think they both can used at different times in your training and work in a synergistic way to produce results. The layers build your strength by “pulling you up from the top” (lots of high percentage work) and 5/3/1 helps build it by “pushing you up from the bottom” (lots of lower percentage work)… So I think you could use them both at different times and get great results.

Although I no longer have all the equipment to run the Max Muscle layers like I used to, I’m sure I could find a way to program around it. That wont happen for a while though as I’m still a LONG way away from stalling on 5/3/1, and even then I will likely reset and keep pushing forward.

I’m not rooting for you to stall, but I will be interested to see what lifts stall/slow down first and compare yours to mine.

Just realized I haven’t posted in your log even though I’ve been lurking in it since it’s creation.

Don’t know if I missed it, but what are your numbers on the Big 4 right?

Chobbs - The last time I did 5/3/1 I was a jackass and added in tons of stuff, so its tough to say what stalled my progress the most. But if I remember right my Dead lift actually was the hardest to increase the weight on. I was a shitty dead lifter back then and feel much better at the lift now that I have better form on it. The OHP was 2nd after that.

Spidey, I didnt really test them but since I had been doing CT’s Layers and ramping to near maxes often I knew a general number.

I programmed 5/3/1 with the following numbers, which are actually in the 80-85% range instead of 90% of 1 RM for the Training Max. These numbers allowed me to easily get 10+ reps on the 5+ week for all the lifts, and something like 5-8 on the 1+ week. I figure this will allow me to progress for a long while and perhaps even give me a bit more hypertrophy with the slightly higher reps.

Press: 135
Dead: 305 (this is way light, but this lift was a bitch for me last time because I started too heavy and the 10 pound jumps caught up with me FAST in the cycle so I went super conservative this time)
Bench: 195
Squat: 215 (again, REALLY light for the same reason as the dead lift)

Because I programmed so light I still go for PR’s on the last set, and do the BBB. My current plan is to run the BBB 3 Month Challenge, on the final cycle I wont go for PR’s since the weight will finally be really challenging in the BBB section, after that I will NOT increase my Training Max, but will re run the cycle and go back to hitting max reps on the PR set for each day to see where I stand going forward.

I think I’m getting smarter about all this shit, but we will see.

Hasn’t been a post in here for a few weeks, how’s everything going Lonnie? Hope life’s treating you well, in and out of the gym!