The Charlie & GearHeaded Project, another cycle experiment.

[bethdoth]

Damn dude I just can't figure out your back? You look super wide in the back, (don't take this wrong) but not as wide from a front view??? Looking good though... much fuller in the chest, my favorite muscle group!

[Proximal]

That’s a sucky situation for sure. In this day and age, I might want to nip this in the bud and calmly bring in management.

With that said, C you are getting bigger and quickly. Your chest is huge and your back is massive. What’s the climate like at work? Is there a lot of back-biting & rumor mongering?

You’re turning into f’n Franco Columbo dude, there’s going to be comments.

[Charlie67]

Damn dude I just can't figure out your back? You look super wide in the back, (don't take this wrong) but not as wide from a front view??? Looking good though... much fuller in the chest, my favorite muscle group!

I'm not taking it the wrong way at all, lol. In fact, its one of the things I bitch about most... how can my back be like that, and I have ZERO chest. I've never had a strong bench press, but I've always had a solid deadlift... so for like 10 years, my primary focus at the gym was deadlift... now I'm old, have shitty shoulders... blah..blah...blah... so... big back, no chest.

That’s a sucky situation for sure. In this day and age, I might want to nip this in the bud and calmly bring in management.
With that said, C you are getting bigger and quickly. Your chest is huge and your back is massive. What’s the climate like at work? Is there a lot of back-biting & rumor mongering?
You’re turning into f’n Franco Columbo dude, there’s going to be comments.

Thanks Prox, I appreciate the kind words! The climate at work is actually rather nice. I've worked with most of them for years, and they're used to me "getting big every winter, and smaller in the summer" and they see me eating accordingly, so its nothing new to them. We're a low drama place, and I'm reluctant to be the cause of any.... we'll see.

[balance]

Looking great C!
Glad to hear your feeling great too. That hemorrhoid comment was too funny, absolutely perfect response. Funny how lifters perceive themselves as small or normal looking (and yes you definitely look like LIFTER).


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[charger69]

I would nip it in the bud and say that was inappropriate and unprofessional. I expect more from you. Leave it at that. She gets the message and will not cross that line again.
I don’t care how big you are..... no one knows if you take AAS or not.


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[Proximal]

I would nip it in the bud and say that was inappropriate and unprofessional. I expect more from you. Leave it at that. She gets the message and will not cross that line again.
I don’t care how big you are..... no one knows if you take AAS or not.


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This doesn’t seem to be a female he might want to address directly Charger (imo). I could easily see her getting afraid, intimidated, etc. (or at least claiming so).

[The road]

I would nip it in the bud and say that was inappropriate and unprofessional. I expect more from you. Leave it at that. She gets the message and will not cross that line again.
I don’t care how big you are..... no one knows if you take AAS or not.


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You probably would ya suit and tie wearin pussy...

I was going to suggest sticking it in her pooper and actually letting out 100% of your aggression...but I guess thats not professional.

I am professional until someone is not.
Then the pants come off and shit gets serious.

"Excuse me ma'am.. I think you dropped something."

"What?"

"Your panties in the back room"

[The road]

This doesn’t seem to be a female he might want to address directly Charger (imo). I could easily see her getting afraid, intimidated, etc. (or at least claiming so).

Yes!
He's right!
She's socially awkward but a nutcase in bed. They always are.
You may have to take your pants off slowly and hint to what you are doing as you are doing it.

"Im gonna f you now...baby steps...I'm removing my belt...don't be alarmed."

A sincere smile and a nod, its all gonna be ok.

**make sure shes not like charger, she will say, "That's not professional!" Then you are in a big legal battle, divorce, ugh... Charger... Mr. Uptight about a finger slid down his buttcrack.**

[charger69]

Yes!
He's right!
She's socially awkward but a nutcase in bed. They always are.
You may have to take your pants off slowly and hint to what you are doing as you are doing it.

"Im gonna f you now...baby steps...I'm removing my belt...don't be alarmed."

A sincere smile and a nod, its all gonna be ok.

**make sure shes not like charger, she will say, "That's not professional!" Then you are in a big legal battle, divorce, ugh... Charger... Mr. Uptight about a finger slid down his buttcrack.**

LMFAO


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[JaneDoe]

great results

[i_SLAM_cougars]

So, what you need to do before you go to work tomorrow is pin 200mg of Tren base, and talk reality to everyone when you get there.

[Charlie67]

So, what you need to do before you go to work tomorrow is pin 200mg of Tren base, and talk reality to everyone when you get there.

Haha, right. So far I've not had any other issues, so I'm rolling with it.

[Charlie67]

Hey guys, small update.

Not a whole lot to report.... I'm starting week 8. I'll tell you this, I love Primo. I'm running 600, along with a little Test, and a little deca . Side effects have been zero.... at worst increased strength. I think it made me better looking, so it's probably a miracle drug.

I got my new diet and workout program. Briefly, its a basic split but there's some fun rep/effort scheming that's pretty logical. Yesterday I was on Arms/back, and had a great workout.
Workout 1 – Chest with secondary Shoulders
Workout 2 – Arms with secondary Back
Workout 3 – Legs with secondary Chest
Workout 4 – Shoulders with secondary Arms
Workout 5 – Back with secondary Legs

Diet Changes:
We dropped calories a bit, and rearranged carb timing. I dropped some of the steak in favor of lean ground beef (96%/4%). My protein is coming from lean ground beef and fish mostly, still a little steak. Carbs are the normal brown or white rice, potatoes, and vegetables... kind of the same as everyone else. Some fruit.

Still no cardio

Looking forward to a week of new workouts, and I feel absolutely great.

Work hard fella's.

C-

[kelkel]

Feeling great is the best part. From there it's pure progress.

[Charlie67]

Sitting at a lunch meeting catered by Olive Garden.... Build your own pasta, with sauces, and meats, and BREAD STICKS!!!

And I'm all, "no thanks...I have rice, fish, and broccoli.... yay...".

[Charlie67]

Hey guys,

I'm one week into part two of the workout and diet, both are going well. On the whole, things are still going great. I'm doing fine on the lower Carbs, but it wasn't a hug drop. I'm not sure I mentioned I was running MK-677 during this whole thing.... but for what its worth, I am.

Here is some interesting data, as a reminder, the goal of this whole thing is re-composition.

Weight: It's telling that I dropped both the Dball and the calories at the peak. This morning I was 256.



Body Composition, as measured by my janky fat calipers.... take these with a grain of salt, I'm not saying my one handed measurements are accurate.
These are just the mm readings... I'm trying not to interpret them as positive as they seem to be, I probably mis-measured a few times. lol:



Pictures this weekend.

Work hard friends.

C-

[SampsonandDelilah]

Impressive brother!! Especially maintaining the diet. Motivation for sure

[charger69]

Hey guys,

I'm one week into part two of the workout and diet, both are going well. On the whole, things are still going great. I'm doing fine on the lower Carbs, but it wasn't a hug drop. I'm not sure I mentioned I was running MK-677 during this whole thing.... but for what its worth, I am.

Here is some interesting data, as a reminder, the goal of this whole thing is re-composition.

Weight: It's telling that I dropped both the Dball and the calories at the peak. This morning I was 256.



Body Composition, as measured by my janky fat calipers.... take these with a grain of salt, I'm not saying my one handed measurements are accurate.
These are just the mm readings... I'm trying not to interpret them as positive as they seem to be, I probably mis-measured a few times. lol:



Pictures this weekend.

Work hard friends.

C-

Hey Chucky- how do you measure your armpit? Auxilia


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[Charlie67]

Hey Chucky- how do you measure your armpit? Auxilia


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It's about nipple hight, under my arm, on my side. So a little down from the armpit.... And I call in Mrs Chucky for help there, tricep, and back... Thus the questionable measurements, lol.

Here is the map I follow:

[Capebuffalo]

Three months. Let’s see a picture. Not of the food.

[Charlie67]

Three months. Let’s see a picture. Not of the food.

Hey Cape, what's up? Hope all is running smoothly in your world.

I will this weekend, work has be kicking my ass and I'm Boston until Saturday (FWIW, Dorchester Planet Fitness isn't terrible for anyone out that way). I'd post more pics but they all start looking the same to me... And frankly, I'm self conscious taking pics at the gym, but I'll post weekly pics probably Sunday.

Speaking of food tho, since you brought it up, and I have nothing to do with this company, but Mrs C. ordered some stuff from this place and got some samples, this one and French Toast were delicious.

I hope everyone is washing the Corona virus off their hands with hot soapy water.... If not, the media says you probably die soon... So there's that. I'm not actually too worried about it but I'm not going to lie, I'm glad this is my last trip for a couple months.

More this weekend,
C-

[Charlie67]

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates last week, I was traveling and trying not to touch anyone.... I want to think that this whole corona thing is overblown.... but the media insists on telling me to think its a global killer. Like most things, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.... but my mom is 80yrs old... so everyone keep washing your hands. Or, quit kissing my mom.

Updates: Sitting in week 10. I know I keep saying this, but I feel great. I'm having good workouts and other than some acne (which is a rather noticeable on my shoulders), I'm having virtually no side effects. I feel bigger and fuller and I'm not having any pain issues. I don't want to curse myself, but things are going well.



When talking this all out with GH... I've been training a long time and I'm 48, so we didn't expect any "newbie gains", and I wanted to keep my calories up, and I didn't really want to do a ton of cardio to lose weight because I wanted a program that I could maintain after it was over... my baseline cardio (maybe 10-15 min, twice a week) would have to do.... so my expectations we VERY reasonable and this seem to be working out.

Weight: Jan 1st I was 253, today I am 254.5... and the goal was a body re-composition....


So my weight is roughly the same, but my fat caliper measurements have all fallen (I posted this couple weeks ago - I'll update it soon)


Despite the horrid pictures below, which don't really show much of a change in my opinion (maybe bigger shoulders, slimmer waist), I feel like things are going exactly how I expected, maybe even a little better. I'm getting several comments about my size, and I'm stronger at the gym (but maybe that's just gear) and I have been pretty strict on the diet. I've not missed a single workout, and when I'm at the gym I really try hard... I'm working for this despite the seemingly modest changes.

Let me take a minute to talk about the single best thing GH has taught me.... in my words, so don't blame him if I Fk this up.... the concept of NOT counting to a certain number of reps, but rather do reps until you are a certain number of reps away from the failure. He (and maybe others, I dunno - I didn't google this) call them Reps in Reverse. The idea is that if you do 4 sets, the first set you stop 4 reps away from failure, the next set you stop 2 rep away, then maybe you go to 1 rep before failure... then to failure on the 4th... or whatever.

Why is this so powerful? Because it forces you to NOT artificially stop your reps when you hit a certain number. Like many of you, some days I'm stronger than others. If I were trying to simply hit 12 reps, I'd stop at 12, on stronger days I'd be short of getting in more work because I stopped... but if my rep range says "stop 2 reps before failure" I might get in 15-18 reps. I can intuitively 'feel' when I'm getting close to failure and I just go until I know I'm 2 reps away. This will improve ALL my sets, and I'll get MORE work done in the same amount of time. OR, if I'm doing a new machine, or new exercise, I don't have to get the weight exactly right, because I have flexibility in the rep ranges.

Now, obviously, this is mostly mental trickery, I could do traditional reps and just not stop at 12 and keep going, but conceptually it forces me to workout based on all possible effort within a given set. Think about it for a bit during your next workout... if you want

Here's week 10 pictures... no, I don't know how to pose, I just roll out of bed, stand up, and Mrs. C shakes her head while snapping away. He said "first thing in the morning"... so here you go.

Work hard my friends,
C-

[Cuz]

You definitely made some noticeable changes i think. Awesome work

[charger69]

Definite changes for the better!
Are you sure your leg measurements are correct? You show that your legs got significantly smaller after gaining 10+ lbs.
seeing things like this makes me want to go to the gym. I have some health issues that I need to take care of first.
You were the prime specimen for this.
If GH starts talking about rest pause or drop sets, run for the hills..: it may kill you. LOL

I like to pick on GH when I can because he knows what the fuck he is talking about and provides results....... but those results may take you out of a comfort zone.


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[Charlie67]

Are you sure your leg measurements are correct? You show that your legs got significantly smaller after gaining 10+ lbs.
seeing things like this makes me want to go to the gym.

Of course not! Don't be ridiculous, lol. I rarely have faith in my ability to measure things correctly... But Mrs C. Says I have no ass... And my legs are noticeably leaner. It's also possible I wasn't doing legs as diligently as GH has me doing them now. I think it's more about fat loss, than it is muscle gain.

I hope your health issues resolve themselves soon Charger, best of luck!

C-

[Capebuffalo]

Absolutely making good progress.

[Proximal]

Kicking butt Charlie!

[i_SLAM_cougars]

This “experiment” looks like a massive success

[Charlie67]

Well, this has been a weird ass week... And it's only Wednesday. Yesterday I learned I'm now working from home "until further notice". Ah well. I'm very thankful to have a job in these unusual times that allows me some flexibility. I am truly thankful... which makes the ranting below seem so petty. But...

Also found out yesterday my main gym (near work) is now closed until the 30th. Which sucks but I'm not driving to work any more, sooo... Fine, I thought, since I'm not driving into the city to work, I'll rejoin the local YMCA for a month, Otherwise I'm driving an hour to the gym..... But guess what? The F'ing YMCA is closed too.... So I'm back to going to the gym that's 45 mins away .... And just a minute ago I hear that the township (after invoking some kind of State of Emergency clause) is meeting tonight to decide the fate of all kinds of businesses.... And guess what's on the list..... FUCKING GYMS! Today I learned that the closest Planet Fitness in closing "temporary" (whatever that means) as well.... whew. I'm holding out hope that my only other reasonable option remains open through this.

My kids are out of school until the 30th, the restaurants and bars are carry-out only, and the state parks are closed... What am I going to do with these guys for 3 weeks?? You can only play so many games of monopoly... Mrs. C is not a patient women when it comes to idle children...I suspect domestic violence will soon be on the rise, lol.

But back to the point of all this... 5 weeks to go and workouts are going well, very well in fact.

Started the 3rd round of gear Monday... I'm back on a little Tren with Test, Mast, Primo and Var.

I'm doing a wee-bit of cardio, hardly enough to even mention.

(as I was writing this, the Dentist called, they just closed. No teeth cleaning for me next week... whatever, it's not like I've been flossing anyway)

My normal shoulder pain has GREATLY subsided over the past 10 weeks which was an unexpected surprise. It might be the workout programming, or maybe just the Deca ... Whichever, I'm very happy with the way things are going... The other day Mrs. C. commented on my hamstrings... I bizarre but welcome complement.

The trick with being at home for some time will be the diet. I'm committed, I'm focusing on meal prep, preparedness is the only way I wont cheat.

[Proximal]

Amazing focus despite this current mess. And on top of that your wife complimented you on your hamstrings! Can’t really top that.

Way to go C!!!

[Charlie67]

Well.....

"The governor’s executive order applies to fitness centers, bowling alleys, private clubs and theaters. Not affected are grocery stores, hospitals, pharmacies, gas stations banks or shelters. The ban came as Illinois officials reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 in the state, "

Hmmmm.... Puts a small wrinkle in things. I'm desperately trying to remember that there are people far far worse off than I am presently. My gyms closing should be a small inconvenience... But I have to be honest guys, I'm unreasonably angry about it.

[moetorious]

Has your diet changed at all? Any changes to carbs protein and fat?

[Charlie67]

Has your diet changed at all? Any changes to carbs protein and fat?

Yeah, we've changed it a couple times as my gear intake has changed. In the beginning growth phase I was on more carbs, and mostly beef, no chicken, etc, for about 350g protein with moderate fat. In the middle we cut carbs and fat a bit, ate fish and beef. Now towards the end we WERE GOING TO up the carbs because of the Tren , but then the world went to shit and all the gyms closed...

I'm still working this out, but my only way forward now is to do whatever resistance training I can come up with at home, but that certainly won't grow any muscle... So it's preservation of current muscle, and fat loss focus now eg: some cardio. So we're looking at really low fat, 350g of carbs, and mostly chicken and fish for protein, 300 or so grams of protein. But until I've done that for a week or so I won't really know what my numbers will be.

[Charlie67]

Gov. JB Pritzker Issues ‘Stay At Home Order’ For Illinois Starting Saturday, Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/03...emic-covid-19/

Looks like I'll be home for a while.... Like many guys around here. Weird times my friends.

[Charlie67]

Workout for the day.... Recall we have 3 young kids, so doing anything at home is... Distracting.

Walk/Ran the dog to the park about 1/2 mile away, tied the pup to a beach and:

- 4 sets of push-ups to failure, elevating my feet up on the bench for two sets
- 4 sets of bench dips to failure
- 4 sets of chin-ups on the monkey bars to failure
- 4 sets of pullups.... To failure, but for me that's only a couple reps for each set
- tried to do some inverted rows on a picnic table but it didn't really work out right
- 4 sets of pike push ups to failure
- 3 sets of walking lunges to failure... But the dog sorta got in the way.

Walk/ran Home

It was a little clunky, and bitter-ass cold (26° and frigid wind)... I don't feel like I worked that hard but I was sweating and panting a bit. I'll keep refining it until I come up with something I can do regularly. I will admit I was a little self conscious for some reason, it's a rather busy road and I I'm an older guy, and was wearing a Carhartt coat, jeans, and hiking boots.... I'm sure I was keeping all the small children away.

I ordered some resistance bands which I hope well let me do some flies, curls, triceps something extensions, etc.... but like everything else fitness related, they're on backorder until April 1st.

The shelter in place order starts at 5 p.m. today, and someone told me all the parks were closed... We'll see if the cops throw me out.

It was a start.

Don't let all this virus bullshit keep you down, figure it out and step into the fray my friends.

Go wash your hands,
C-

[Proximal]

Nice workout. My bands are on the way courtesy of amazon.

Keep at it C!

[Charlie67]

Interesting read on NYT website on how the virus spread.... No politics or conspiracy, just data.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...gtype=Homepage

[The road]

Interesting read on NYT website on how the virus spread.... No politics or conspiracy, just data.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...gtype=Homepage

I cant read the article because I have to subscribe... Give me a synopsis.

[charger69]

I cant read the article because I have to subscribe... Give me a synopsis.

Learn how to use your phone! Swipe up and the captions will come. LOL


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[charger69]

Interesting read on NYT website on how the virus spread.... No politics or conspiracy, just data.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...gtype=Homepage

Sorry Charlie- I have no respect for the NYT. This may be truthful, but most of their stories are not.
Under the present situation, they also are trying to go on people’s fear.
They had a headline the other day, something like Dr’s need to decide who to save.
Let’s just multiply everyone’s fear 3x.


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