Hard2Gains getting back into it plan

[Hard2Gain]

Well, as it says, the plan is to get back into it again after some injuries last year and simply riding my mountain bike all summer.

History:
I have run two cycles in the past. Both with Dbol and w/ Test E and the other with Test C. Second cycle also had a kick of Test Prop and then all the post cycle gear as well.

Developed tendonitis in right elbow which really slowed things down at about week 10 of cycle so it wasn't that bad but basically got burned out and jumped on my bike. Lost some weight of course by doing this but its all good.

Have been in the gym about once a week during my 9 month hiatis as I still train a client and work out with him but it was mostly just maintenance for me. Been back in the gym the past 3 weeks working on getting myself ready, fine tuning my diet (cutting back damn near everything I love to eat) and just mentally preparing myself.

I plan on starting back on my old workout plan on Monday which is basically BossHogg's program if any of you have heard of him/it. If not here goes.

Two different work outs, one push and one pull. You simply rotate the work outs. I will do the workout eod and take the weekends off. My off days will basically be cardio days however so I will still be doing something. Each workout consists of about 5 exercises or so and are centered around the 3 basic movements. This basically my routine from last time.

Workout A
Reverse grip pulldowns
Hammer strentgh Seated row
Tbar row
Deads

Workout B
Bench Press
Close Grip Bench Press
Military Press
Squats

This time however, I may ditch the Hammer Strength row and add in a biceps specific exercise and I may shift deads to stiff legged deads as I recall this last workout putting a bit of a strain on my CNS.

My goal however is not to bulk too much. I mean, if I was doing that then I would simply go back on cycle. In this case, I want to hit a few target areas and simply put on some lean mass. I believe I can do this with a strong/clean diet. I don't have any weight goal if you will but simply know what I want to look like (beach body if you will).

So here are my stats. I will get some measurements either tonight or tomorrow and post them up.

Age: 39
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 185 lbs
BF%: ? Will try to get that by this weekend as well (just gotta make arrangements at the gym-I suspect that it is fairly high though-maybe 15-18%)

I would like to see myself sitting at a solid 170 when all is said and done in the spring. I know I said, I don't have a weight goal but I figure, to look the weigh I want, this is probably where I will be.

Lastly, I have had a bit of a gyno problem. Nothing major but enough to piss me off and make me self conscious. My plan is to actually run a cutting cycle in the spring and perhaps some sort of chemical cycle to try to reduce gyno. May be just one cycle instead of two separates. Probably something with Mast, Winn, Letro. We will see though as I will need to do some more research and find another source by then as well.

For now, it will simply be about putting on a little lean mass and toning up what I have, then we will worry about shredding up. I figure I will go through the winter working on some gains and start working on leaning out some time in Feb. So that gives me a solid 3-4 months if you will.

I will post up some initial weights lifted for the exercises on Monday. I suspect I will start out a little light to continue working my way into the program as well as to keep myself motivated with this project.

Below are a few photos taken about a month or so ago. Not much has changed since then. I look forward to all of you guys support on my journey and am dieing to get started.

[Hard2Gain]

Well, today is technically day 1 of my routine. It will be a push day. Honestly, I am quite excited but have been battling a headache both yesterday and today. I don't normally get them so it is a little odd. I think it is more of a sinus issue with the change in the weather that we are having here that has me all jacked up.

None the less, I am going to be working out in the afternoons. This is a huge change for me as I have been working out at 4:30 in the morning for at least the past 10 years. But with my schedule being the way it is, and my wife finally telling me that I need to switch some things around, I get to workout in the daylight hours finally. That alone is exciting to me. But we will have to see how crowded the gym is. I guess I am a little spoiled at this point because there is hardly anyone in the gym when I go which means I have free reign of just about the entire gym!

So far, I can say that not working out in the morning has made it harder to get going here at the office. In fact, while I was busy this morning running around tending to some problems, I just felt tired. On the other hand, I started eating at the same time I normally do, and I have been hungry all day! I thought I packed enough for 4 meals (to get me through from 6AM - 3:30PM) but all I have left is my salad at this point. Just ridiculous. Hell, I'm not even on cycle!

The good news, is that I have eaten fairly clean all day. I did slip and have on small Recees Cup though (too much Halloween candy around here). But it curbed my appetite for something sweet, so I guess it was better than me running out and getting a cinnimon roll or something though.

So, today will be about pushing. My weights will still be a little low as I am trying to nurse my elbow but the goal is to go through the work out with a challenging weight and in some cases (depending on the exercise) go as close to failure as I can (no spotter for the most part).

I will post back tonight with a run down of the workout once completed.

[Hard2Gain]

Man, that was fun! I think I like working out in the afternoon, provided I can stay awake during the work day. Over all it was a good workout. Like I said, the weights are still a little low as I am still working on getting myself back in the swing of things. So here goes:

Incline bench: 175 14/12/6/4 = 36
Close Grip Bench: 135 13/11/7/5 = 36
DB Press: 45 14/12/7/5 = 38
Squat: 135 14/12 = 26

I know, some of the weights are off but I had to pick something and go with it. My legs take much longer to get back in the swing of things. Even though I have been riding all summer long, there is a big difference in endurance strength vs power. None the less, my groin/hamstrings seem to strain pretty easy. honestly though, the weight felt really light and my reps were no problem, but here I am just 1.5 hours later and my quads already feel tight. That means tomorrow and the next day are going to suck for me.

I probably could have gone a little heavier on db press as well but hadn't done them in a while and just wasn't sure. i wanted to make sure I got all my reps as well so I know I need to go up to 50-55's next time.

Chest and tri's felt pretty good and I did not get much elbow pain. I did wrap my elbows though but not so much that it was helping me to lift the weight. I just wanted to make sure I did not jack my elbow this early in the game.

So, I am quite happy and will just need to get out and do some cardio tomorrow. I will probably go for a walk while my daughter is at soccer practice in the evening. Should be pretty easy to get a solid hour in doing that.

Now that that is all done, I have to eat something again before I head out to Buffalo Wild Wings for the game. First time going there so I need to make sure I eat something at home or I will end up sucking down some 20 hot wings! Hopefully, I can just get a good salad or something. How sad is that? I sound like my wife now.

[Hard2Gain]

l forgot to add that I also did standing calf raises on the hammer strength machine. since I don't know the weight of the machine I will just add the plate weights.

Standing calf raises 270 12/12/10 = 34 will go heavier on Friday.

So, I am excited about today. I actually like the pull day more than the push but this is where I really struggled last winter when on cycle once the weight went up. Will have to see how my elbow does today and go from there.

Checked my weight on the digital scale last night during a training appt and I was at 189.1. Hmmm, I weighed in at 186 on the standard scale in the locker room the day before. I almost think the digital scale is more accurate since I pretty much have to try to zero out the manual one every time I use it so it could be off by a lb or 2. I will check both of them tonight to see what I get.

On week two of this over the counter crap I got from my friend. I really can't say I feel any different but I do appear to be putting on weight. My diet has been going pretty good but I may need to up my cardio a tad more as I am probably gaining water weight judging by how quick I seem to be going up here.

As a side note, my frickn quads/hams are tight from squats. I can't believe it. I felt like I could have squated 225 with no problems but glad I held back at this point. Damn, I hate being sore all the time!

[Hard2Gain]

I would say that the workout went great. Once again it is simply nice being at the gym at a time of day when there are other people there. Just seems to push you a little bit harder imo.

Overall, I felt pretty good and had no pain what so ever while doing my lifts.

Rev Grip Pull down 160 14/12/8/6 = 40
Cable Row 120 14/11/9/5 = 39
SLD 135 13/9/6/5 = 33
DB Shrug 75 15/14/13 = 42
Spider Curl 50 12/10/8/6 = 36

Obviously, I can go up in all lifts and plan on doing so next time. But I woke up this morning and within 30 minutes I could feel a little pain in my right elbow. I believe this is a result of the Rev Grip Pull downs (as was the case last year) so I may try swaping it for standard Lat pull downs and see what happens.

On a good note my new Thera-Band Flex Bar showed up at the house last night. I tried the exercises perscribed by my doc and I can definitely feel it hitting this area. Looks like I will be doing this thing at least once a day for a while now since my elbow is already hurting a little bit.

So, while I was totally excited about my workout, I woke up this morning feeling pretty pissed off that my elbow has already started bothering me again. Hopefully this exercise bar thing will help out as they say it does and I will be able to continue on with my lifting. Perhaps just with just a little bit lighter weight on my pull days. For now, we will just have to see. Hopefully, I can get away with wrapping my elbows on tomorrows push day and make it through. I will then have 2 days off before jumping back into my pull workout on Monday.

Wt was 189.2 on the digital scale and about 190.5 on the manual scale. I was wearing basketball shorts, socks, sneakers, and two t shirts. I would say that the scales are both fairly accurate at this point.

[Hard2Gain]

Damn, I hate being sore! Today my biceps are still a little stiff right at the elbow joint but my romboids/lats are kickn in today. My right hamstring is still a little stiff so I will need to make sure I do quite a bit of warming up before doing squats tonight. Not that the weight I will be using is that great but the damn things seem to strain so easily it is ridiculous. Still excited about going to the gym though!

Started using the new Thera-band flex bar thing for my elbow. When I finished the 3x15 sets my forearms and hands felt pumped. I could barely reply to emails here at work! But I felt like I got a good stretch out of the exercise so hopefully, I will keep this up and my elbow will start feeling better.

[Hard2Gain]

Today was a push day and a few things got screwed up. First of all, I must have missed the memo as everyone was at the frickn gym today! So, my plan was to use the Smith machine to do my inclines and close grip bench exercises. But no! There were two other guys waiting to use it! So, I went back to free weights. So my weights were lower.

Incline bench 135 36 reps
CGB 135 34
DB Press 50 34
Squat 155 24
Calf Raises 320 42

Over all it went well even though I was a little psyched out by all the people being on the equipment I needed. I swear my gym needs more stuff! So, yes, I am a little weak right now. Especially on chest, but that has never been my strength. I am sure that the weights will continue to increase as the workouts go by. I am just trying to take it slow even though I feel like I could lift a little more weight right now. But I won't be lifting anything if my elbow flares up. So far so good.

[Hard2Gain]

Just a quick update. I am going to be running a short simple cycle of Test Prop since I have a bottle of it. I also have A-dex on hand if need be. I will be doing 1ml/EOD (100mg/ml). I am hoping this will simply give me a little bit of an additional jump start if you will.

[Hard2Gain]

Well, today once up and walking, I can pretty much walk like normal. Can't believe it frickn hurt that bad for that long! I pinned my L delt last night and yes, it is a little sore but no where near what the pain has been like in my R quad. Now I will just have to do a left handed injection in my right delt tomorrow which should be interesting. I think I will wait until the evening after I workout though since it will be a push day on Wednesday.

On a side note, I actually have two bottles of Test Prop which would get me through the month if I continue dosing at EOD. The big question is whether or not I wimp out from dealing with the pain of it.

I am now on the search for a source for Letro. All my buddies over at Chopdewey seem to have left and the place is like a ghost town over there. Sucks as it is like starting over from ground zero trying to track down a source for this crap.

[Hard2Gain]

Ok, the work out went well yesterday. I switched my grip on my pulldowns to an overhand grip so the weight lifted was reduced. I did not however feel any elbow pain so I will leave it this way and continue to work on adding weight. For my SLD's, I did not have access to either of the stupid squat cages and the gym was packed so I ended up using the Smith machine. As a result the weight counted is much higher even though it was on the Smith. I mean, I was supposed be doing something like 150 free weight but on the smith I ended up racking what would look like 175. Either way it was tuff and added up in the end as the reps show.

Lat Pull down 145 12/9/6/5 = 32
Cable Row 130 12/9/9/8 = 38
SLD 175 12/10/6 = 28
DB Shrug 80 15/10/10 = 35
Spider Curl 55 12/9/7/4 = 32

So today I feel good. I can walk again without any sort of limp so the pain in my R quad has finally subsided. I injected on Friday and it was still frickn sore yesterday (3 days later) I have since pinned both my delts and while they are sore, I can still function in life without too much bitching! They definitely did not hurt as bad. Not sure where the next injection is going to go at this point as I am very reluctant to pin my quads again and I am sure the glute won't feel much better.

[SergeantCarbs]

I get the same way with the quads. Pinned last Friday also and was limping around till yesterday. No problems pinning in the bumm, seems to hurt less then other spots.

[ithunk]

Well, as it says, the plan is to get back into it again after some injuries last year and simply riding my mountain bike all summer.

History:
I have run two cycles in the past. Both with Dbol and w/ Test E and the other with Test C. Second cycle also had a kick of Test Prop and then all the post cycle gear as well.

Developed tendonitis in right elbow which really slowed things down at about week 10 of cycle so it wasn't that bad but basically got burned out and jumped on my bike. Lost some weight of course by doing this but its all good.

Have been in the gym about once a week during my 9 month hiatis as I still train a client and work out with him but it was mostly just maintenance for me. Been back in the gym the past 3 weeks working on getting myself ready, fine tuning my diet (cutting back damn near everything I love to eat) and just mentally preparing myself.

I plan on starting back on my old workout plan on Monday which is basically BossHogg's program if any of you have heard of him/it. If not here goes.

Two different work outs, one push and one pull. You simply rotate the work outs. I will do the workout eod and take the weekends off. My off days will basically be cardio days however so I will still be doing something. Each workout consists of about 5 exercises or so and are centered around the 3 basic movements. This basically my routine from last time.

Workout A
Reverse grip pulldowns
Hammer strentgh Seated row
Tbar row
Deads

Workout B
Bench Press
Close Grip Bench Press
Military Press
Squats

This time however, I may ditch the Hammer Strength row and add in a biceps specific exercise and I may shift deads to stiff legged deads as I recall this last workout putting a bit of a strain on my CNS.

My goal however is not to bulk too much. I mean, if I was doing that then I would simply go back on cycle. In this case, I want to hit a few target areas and simply put on some lean mass. I believe I can do this with a strong/clean diet. I don't have any weight goal if you will but simply know what I want to look like (beach body if you will).

So here are my stats. I will get some measurements either tonight or tomorrow and post them up.

Age: 39
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 185 lbs
BF%: ? Will try to get that by this weekend as well (just gotta make arrangements at the gym-I suspect that it is fairly high though-maybe 15-18%)

I would like to see myself sitting at a solid 170 when all is said and done in the spring. I know I said, I don't have a weight goal but I figure, to look the weigh I want, this is probably where I will be.

Lastly, I have had a bit of a gyno problem. Nothing major but enough to piss me off and make me self conscious. My plan is to actually run a cutting cycle in the spring and perhaps some sort of chemical cycle to try to reduce gyno. May be just one cycle instead of two separates. Probably something with Mast, Winn, Letro. We will see though as I will need to do some more research and find another source by then as well.

For now, it will simply be about putting on a little lean mass and toning up what I have, then we will worry about shredding up. I figure I will go through the winter working on some gains and start working on leaning out some time in Feb. So that gives me a solid 3-4 months if you will.

I will post up some initial weights lifted for the exercises on Monday. I suspect I will start out a little light to continue working my way into the program as well as to keep myself motivated with this project.

Below are a few photos taken about a month or so ago. Not much has changed since then. I look forward to all of you guys support on my journey and am dieing to get started.

actually and appropriate place to post about training and diet questions would be http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ ...however you cannot talk about steroids in there....here is cool too...but its really more into the chemical side of stuff....anyway i visit both forums

[Hard2Gain]

actually and appropriate place to post about training and diet questions would be http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ ...however you cannot talk about steroids in there....here is cool too...but its really more into the chemical side of stuff....anyway i visit both forums

Ok, I tried to pick the place that pretty much fit the description the best I could for what I was going to be writing about. I have no problem however if a mod would like to move this. I thought that since I was talking about my workout log and keeping track of it that it sort of made sense here. In the beginning I was not on anything though I am now taking something. I will make sure not to make mention of it in the other section however and thank you for pointing that out to me.

[Hard2Gain]

Well, nice to know that I am not the only one that doesn't seem to like this crap! I seriously doubt I will pin my quads again with this stuff. Right now, I am safe for another day. So I am guessing that I will be pinning a glute on Thur.

[Hard2Gain]

Push Day

Incline (FW) 145 12/10/8/7 = 37
CGB (FW) 145 12/10/8/6 = 36
DB Press 55 10/7/5/4 = 26
Squat 175 10/10 = 20

So for the most part I did pretty good. I flopped on my DB press though. I will give it a go again at the same weight next time and see if I can beat my reps. The downside with DB is that you can only go up in 5lb incriments vs BB or smith where you can go up as little as 2.5lbs plates. But I am not ready to switch over just yet. I did however make a significant jump in my squats. My quads are a little tight already but we will see how I feel tomorrow. I honestly felt like I could have gone a little heavier but my back was getting a little tight and I did not have my belt. I will probably only go up 5lbs on this lift next week and go again without my belt and see how I feel. If I feel bothered I will add the belt.

I managed to make it through incline press without wrapping my elbows though I could feel it a little bit towards the end. I did wrap them for CGB though. The downside to wrapping is that you actually end up cheating and lifting more weight than you can without them and it requires a longer break between sets due to having to unwrap and rewrap. I really need to look into some good quality sleeve style wraps. I found some last year that run about $50. Perhaps this will be one of my Christmas presents this year.

I ran out of time and had to skip calf raises due to an earlier start time for my daughters soccer practice but I think I will be fine with that. My calfs are decent size and shape anyway.

[Hard2Gain]

Well, I am still chugging along. Sorry for not updating, I kept forgetting to bring my log into the office with me. So here goes:

11/12 Pull day

Lat pull down 150 12/9/8/4 = 33
Cable Row 160 12/9/9/6 = 36
SLD (skipped due to back being tight from being bent over most of the day before doing plumbing work in my house-my back was tight as hell!)
DB Shrug 85 12/12/12/12 = 48
Spider Curl 55 12/8/4/4 = 28 (flopped on this one!)

Body weight = 188.2


11/15 Push Day

*Flat Bench 155 12/12/10/10 = 44
*CGB 165 12/12/9/9 = 42
DB Press 55 12/10/7/4 = 33 (flopped on this last time so this was a good day!)
Squat 205 12/10 = 22

*used smith machine-just couldn't seem to get the weight right on it but suffered just the same!
Will probably be switching from DP Press to BB Military on Smith today so I can make smaller increase increments.

Body weight last night = 191.2 (still climbing)

So there you have it. I am still hanging in there. So far my elbow is not bothering me too much. I felt it a little bit on CGB last time but nothing bad. Just need to keep wrapping my elbows in an effort to keep working out.

[Hard2Gain]

Lat Pull Down 160 12/10/6/6 = 34
Cable Row 170 13/9/7/5 = 34
SLD 155 12/12 = 24
Shrug 95 15/15 = 30
Spider Curl 55 11/10/5/4 = 30

If I am going to continue doing spider curls I will need to switch to an EZ bar as the stock short bb's the gym have seem to alternate between ez style and straight. All the even weights are ez and the odds are straight. They also only jump in 5lb incremints so I will need to go to the standard ez bar so I can make smaller increases. the bottom line is that I was dieing on spider curls today. Now that the weights have gone up on some of the other pull movements, I was really struggling to do the curls as my arms were fairly blown. I may switch to just db curls and not focus so much on the weight but go with a lighter weight just to get a good pump out of them as my last exercise on pull day.

I know I can go up in shrugs with no problems but may need to switch to the Hammer Strength bench or a BB for these as I am getting tired of doing a squat before I even get to start the shrug as all the benches are typically taken so I have to start from the floor.

Not sure if I will make reps on cable row or pull downs next week as the weight felt pretty heavy today but we will see. I plan on going up 5 lbs on each next time.

I guess I am pretty happy with my progress thus far. Honestly, it is not about how much I can lift or how much I weigh this time around. I know what I want to look like so all of that is just a by product as far as I am concerned. I will still continue to run this routine however as I feel it really does allow for greatest reward and the ability to train each body part more frequently.

[Hard2Gain]

Wt= 189.6 Push Day

Incline Smith 160/14, 165 11/10/12 = 47
CGB Smith 175 13/10/9/6 = 38
Military Smith 135 11/9/8/6 = 34
Front Squat 95/12, 135/12 = 24

Ok, so a few things were different tonight. I went back to the smith machine since it was open. My warm up felt really difficult so I only went up to 160 but then blew thru the reps so I went up again and things were still flying.

On CGB, well, things went pretty good and I am thinking that next time will be pretty difficult. I am still wrapping my elbows on both bench and cgb and have yet to get any pain so I am happy.

I switched to the smith for military press just because we don't have a military press bench and because I can increase in smaller amounts as opposed to using dbs. I can say that my elbow felt a little better using the bb.

For squats, I realized that I was just barely going parallel and I really want to get my ass a little lower. So I dropped the weight back down and focused on going low. I also did more of an olympic style front squat. In the end, I was definitely going lower and could feel it alot more in my quads tonight even though the weight was lighter. I know it looks pretty light and well, it was but I also did 3 sets of leg extensions, 2 sets of leg curls, 3 sets of leg press, and 2 sets on the hip adductor machine (the one the women are always on where your squeeze your knees together) all in an effort to get my legs fairly stretched out. So far so good, I have not managed to strain my hamstrings/groin yet so I think this is working for me. It adds time but is worth it thus far.

So there you have it, I am happy to be off from the gym as my butt is dragging. I way frickin tired at this point and just want to go to sleep.