Mitch535 Weekly Accountability Log

[Mitch535]

Hey guys, love the idea of an accountability log and have been wanting to start one. I decided that I needed to get some things in order before doing so, and I'm ready to lay it out.

About me:
I'm 30.
5'8
171 lbs as of today
14.8% bodyfat

I've been lifting off and on since I was in high school. I graduated weight a whopping 135 lbs. Through my 20s my natural weight was around 155. Solid lifting and decent eating over the past year has added 16 lbs bringing me up to the 171 I am at today. I have made tremendous gains in strength and look and feel much better. It was only recently that I decided to dial in my diet. If I'm working this hard in the gym, I might as well put in the extra effort in the kitchen right? So last weekend I built a spreadsheet to help me in that department, and I spent last week following the diet and it went great.

Before I delve into what I'm doing, I'll give you guys an idea of where I'd like to go. My goal is to hit 185 lbs, preferably by early next year. I'd like to maintain 185 through the late winter months into early spring, and start cutting for the summer around the beginning of April. After the summer months, I'd like to begin my first cycle. I've been following Austinite's thread on a successful first cycle. I've had a hydrostatic body fat test done to establish a relationship with those folks, and I've located a local lab for bloodwork. My diet should be dialed in and my workouts should be on point. I'm hoping with this thread that you guys can help me stay on track and help me tweak my workouts and diet as I go along.

For workouts, I do 5 days per week. I generally can't make weekends work because of the distance I live from the gym, and my weekend responsibilities. The following program has been working great for me. I spend an hour at a time on the workout and the intensity is definitely there. I'm usually spent when I leave the gym.
Monday- Chest & Obliques
Tuesday- Back & Abs
Wednesday- Legs.
Thursday- Shoulders & Obliques
Friday- Arms & Abs
Sat- hiking or caving (not optional.)
Sunday - rest

My diet can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...fPWQIw/pubhtml
I'm on a 500 calorie surplus. Per Austinite's thread, I've limited my fats to 75g per day. Currently only hitting 58.5g of fat per day and as I gain weight and can add more food into the diet, I'm sure I'll see that number go up to the desired goal of 75g. Protein... I've been playing with. I've read so many different articles on protein, anything from 1g per day to 2g per day. I was calculating at 1.75g per day but I recently switched to 2g per day to see how it would change my macros. That's where I am now. Suggestions in this area would be GREATLY appreciated. The rest is calculated up for carbs, obviously. I eat almost the same thing every day. Sundays are a free day, gotta have some variety. I eat oatmeal every morning, and a lot of chicken, rice, and eggs. Lots and lots of chicken, rice, and eggs...

I will try and update this every Friday, for the week. Today is Monday, so I'll outline last week:

Workouts were fantastic. I've been very focused in the gym lately, and getting very good pumps. I'm usually spent at the end of the workout and thought I was going to have to bribe someone to carry me out to my truck after leg day. I've been making great progress in the strength department, and I've been moving up in weight at least every other week on all primary lifts. The new diet started on Monday and went great all week. I had to tweak the chicken, rice, and egg meals that I've been putting in tupperware to give it some flavor, the first batch was horrendously bland and I had to coat it down in A1 to tolerate... New batch has been fantastic. Its amazing how far some chicken stock and spices will go.

[73rr]

Cool! Good luck and congratulations on starting your own log.

[Mitch535]

Diet went decent this week, stuck by it for the most part. I've weighed in consistently at 172 lbs this week.
Wednesday I had dinner with my folks so I broke from the routine, but not terribly bad. I had ham, pinto beans, and some potatoes. Back on schedule for the rest of the week.
Workouts have been high intensity. I didn't get as pumped during my shoulder workout yesterday as I would have liked, but I did keep the intensity up. Went up in weight in several lifts.
I've not been sleeping well. I can't stay asleep all night, I wake up several times and am very restless. Not sure what is going on, and I don't think that it is caffein related because my caffein intake is only during the early morning and an occasional preworkout.

This weekend will be tough. I have a 10.3 mile hike scheduled for tomorrow and I'll be camping that night and doing a lot of work on a camp site, weedeating and such, to get the area ready for a big caving festival coming up next month. The diet is going to be hard to maintain this weekend.

[73rr]

U do your log for the week or am I ahead of schedule?
Nvm just figured out the dates!

[Mitch535]

Yeah I'll be doing them on Fridays. I set myself an alert on my digital calendar so I don't forget. I'll update tomorrow for this week.

[Mitch535]

Update for week of 9/19/2015 to 9/25/2015

Weight has been between 173-174 this week, so I'm right on par with the 500 calorie surplus gain. I'm very happy with how the diet has been going.
Monday's chest day went well. All the flat benches were taken in a rare occasion in which my gym had more than 2 or 3 people in it... so I started with incline dumbell press, finishing with 75lb dumbells for a set of 6. The change up really helped get me nice and sore, had a great pump.
Tuesday's back day was great, I went up 20 lbs on my deadlift. No lifting straps, pulled 245lbs for a set of 6, was doing 225lbs. Happy about that. Had a great reset of the workout.
Wednesday's squat day also went great. I broke the 300 lb mark for my squats, hit 315lbs for a set of 6. Had one of the guys that work there spot me to make sure my back was staying straight and I was hitting parallel. Added in some front squats in addition to my normal routine and they really helped burn my legs. Left the gym with an awesome pump, thought I was gonna have to pay someone to carry me out to my truck haha.
Thursday's shoulder workout as rough in a bad way. I got an excruciating headache early in my workout. I pushed through it and upped my overhead press. Last week I was pressing for my heaviest set a 70lb dumbell and moved up to 75lb this week. Had a co-worker spot me, felt awesome (except the headache). The rest of the workout went great, I'm still feeling the shoulders as I type this.
Today's arm workout was kinda shitty. I got another bad headache early on in the workout. Feels like my eyes were going to pop out of my head and I could feel my temples pulsating. Not sure what's going on there. My cousin also met me at the gym, he's new to working out so I spent half my time showing him a basic workout and making sure his form was good while trying to get my workout in. I didn't have time to get my forearm work in, and I didn't feel like I got a very good workout in general due to the headache and having company.

Diet all week has been fairly spot on. I did splurge and drink a coke. My wife and I went out on Thursday and I had a steak and a baked potato with broccoli, which was a nice break from my usual chicken, rice, and eggs I usually eat. I'm still doing the chicken/rice/egg large batch that lasts me all week. When I hit 175 lbs and I up my calorie intake I'll try and change the diet up so I don't get so tired of eating the same thing over and over. I dunno though, it's been working. I've consistently been putting on 1 pound a week for the past 14 weeks, and I don't feel like I've put on much more fat than I started with (though it doesn't look like I've lost any, either)

As of now I am happy with how I am progressing. I feel like my calves and forearms need work, but everything else is growing and I'm definitely getting consistently stronger. Will report in again next Friday. I'll be changing my workout program up in 2 weeks. I'll try and find a before pic and I'll take an after pic at that time, if I can remember.

[bethdoth]

Keep it up ...it will pay off. Sounds like you are doing good.

[Mitch535]

Update for week of 9/26 to 10/2

This week was kinda meh. Diet wasn't on track and this weekend is going to suck as well. My wife's first birthday party ever (she was raised Adventist) so this whole week has kind of been crazy.

I had to change my workout schedule because of things going on at work, and the gym is far more busy at the time I'm going so I'm also having to get accustomed to having to share the gym with others. It has always been so dead...

Anyways, didn't really go up in weights at all this week but I did go up in reps for most lifts, from a max of 6 to a max of 8. Added in a few exercises and had decent workouts. Definitely didn't feel as good about them as I have been. I guess we all have an off week.. Weight stayed at 173/174. Hoping to get back on track with the diet and continue on towards my goal. Next week is my last week with the current lifting program using mostly dumbells. I like to do 6 week cycles. After next week I'll start lifting barbell for many of my lifts.

[73rr]

Don't worry about this week being a little off for u. Shit I had almost 3 weeks of lack of motivation and being tired. It happens to everyone. Juat jump back in it hard next week and keep that diet clean! Good job on keeping the log going!

[Mitch535]

Don't worry about this week being a little off for u. Shit I had almost 3 weeks of lack of motivation and being tired. It happens to everyone. Juat jump back in it hard next week and keep that diet clean! Good job on keeping the log going!

Thanks brother. I know it is early on in the week, but yesterdays workout was great. Chest day, swapped things up and started off with incline dumbell press instead of flat press, got a great pump and I'm feeling it today.

[73rr]

Awesome, I'm happy to here that u jumped back in! Keep eating good and working hard. I'm excited to see your next log in on friday

[RaginCajun]

looks like you are chugging right along mitch!

consistency is the magic pill to this game!

[TheTaxMan]

Keep it up Mitch!

[Mitch535]

I didn't get to make my Friday post last week. Had a colonoscopy done, so don't you guys be envious..

I had a hell of a weekend. Did CPR on a woman for 30 minutes before an AED arrived, shocked her, and she still didn't make it. She fell while rappelling. I'm a high angle/technical rescue tech and wilderness EMT.
So.. my mind is kind of off right now and I can't remember much about last week, aside from missing Friday's arm workout. It went fair enough. I'm not sure what my weight is currently so I can't say how the diet paid off. I'll find out this evening when I'm at the gym. I won't be surprised if I lost a pound or two just due to not being able to eat for two days and hiking a mile in the woods and back out with a stretcher.

Sad post. Hope its the only one I have to put up on my log.

[RaginCajun]

damn sorry to hear that, but you did your best to save her.

thanks for being an EMT!

just remember to keep on trucking!

[73rr]

Sorry, to hear that happend. Side not u have a really cool job that actually does something for ppl! Thank u for being a EMT!

[Mitch535]

Alright, so back on track this week in terms of workout. Diet wasn't so great.

Weight has fluctuated between 173 and 175 all week. I've decided that I want to hit 175 consistently and then maintain for a few months. I had set my mind to hitting 185 but I think that hitting 175 and holding for a few months, slowly cutting body fat while maintaining the weight by replacing it with lean will keep me more athletic. Ideally I'll hold 175 for the months of October, November, and December and cut to at least 10% bodyfat. This will have me in ideal shape for starting my very first cycle at the first of the year.

My wife decided she wanted to start cooking again regularly. Not wanting to turn down an offer of a hot meal in the evenings, I've been eating what she's put on the table. While tasty and delicious, it hasn't been what I set my goals on and I have no idea how to figure up how much I'm eating. I don't think the phase will last long. We both have very busy lives and usually precook all our meals. I've already talked with her about cooking my chicken and rice meals for me, so I'll get back to eating chicken and rice and eggs for my lunches and I'll eat whatever she wants to surprise me with for dinner.

So last week I capped off a 3 month cycle of lifting heavy, 6-8 reps per set, 4 sets per lift, using dumbbells for the majority of my lifts. This week I changed things up, and plan to spend the rest of the month doing high volume lifts, 10-15 reps per set, 4 sets per lift. I am wonderfully sore today, and can still feel the tension in my chest from my workout on Monday. I think my body was ready for the change. I was humbled by my barbell bench press for sure. It's been a long time since I've pressed a barbell, have been using dumbbells for a long time. Tuesday's back day was great, lighter weight but more reps. I've been focusing on my chinup, full extension, straight body, zero cheat, 30 reps for the day. I do them in between lifts in sets of 6. Wednesday's leg day was brutal. Max weight on my squat was 225 for 10 reps, so that's much lighter than usual, but I made sure every rep was parallel and followed them up with lunges and then front squats. My quads and glutes were on fire. Some leg curls, straight leg deadlifts, and calf raises on the leg press machine made the rest of my legs match. Yesterdays shoulder workout as also brutal. The lighter weight/more reps let me spend more time under load and really got an extreme burn on the full range of delts. I usually do my traps on back day, but I tossed in an extra day of shrugs just because I was feeling motivated. I'm hoping today's arm workout benefits from the volume that the rest of my body is feeling. Looking forward to it!

This weekend is going to be beautiful and cooler weather. I've got a caving trip planned for tomorrow morning, a rigorous ridge walk/hike that afternoon, camp Saturday night, and caving again Sunday morning.

[kenny3478]

Cheers for the posts I enjoy coming on to read them I learn a lot.

I'm also a big hiker I'm going up Kilimanjaro on the 2nd November looking forward to that I'm going to start to slow down with my training this next week to try conserve as much energy as possible done Everest base camp this time last year that was a tough one more the altitude than the hiking anyway keep up with the good work and the posts look forward to the next one.