First Cycle - Standard Protocol

[DeeCee112]

you asked for suggestions on your diet/shopping list . well I see lots of fats but I don't see any fast acting carb sources (no potatos or white rice for example). just curious what your reason is for this. I see some fruit in there, which has some limited amount of fast acting carbs, but also has fructose which is a carb source that cannot build muscle or be stored as muscle glycogen like glucose can.
are you trying to maintain your bodyweight and just lose fat? or are you trying to put on some muscle and strength gains ?

Primary goal is to gain muscle. Strength gains are also certainly enjoyed. Just looking to pack on as much size as I can then maintain and solidify the new size and lean it out down the road.

Feel free to correct and educate me but as far as fast acting carbs my understanding has always been to limit this to only post workout meal to spike glucose when muscles are most accepting. Otherwise slow release complex carbs is preferred to deliver nutrients and energy slowly and less likely to be deposited as fat. I switched all my rice is brown or long grain, potatoes are sweet potatoes (forgot to add them in). Again, I am being humbled by my metabolism on test and open to making corrections.

My post workout shake has dextrose, post workout meal I add fruit immediately post workout usually pineapple and actual meal it is usually "junkier" and higher in carbs ie I'll grab a big ass burger, pastas with sauces and proteins, stir fries with basmati white rice. Otherwise I try to keep the rest of my meals fast acting carb free although like I said I know I have a high metabolism and there am certainly not strict so I will grab like 2 big macs with water or smash a giant bowl of spaghetti ect.

[DeeCee112]

I didn't plan on using this for more than just an update now and then and the odd question but I'm finding it helps keep me on track so heres some more details.

Yesterdays back and arms workout was savage, this is going to be a good week. My numbers aren't the highest but I've never been a powerlifter really and usually kept the weights lower, the form flawless and preferred failure techniques like supersets and HIT training. After my 3yr hiatus when I had my kids I lost a lot of strength. 4 or 5 months ago 225 felt heavy again so to be coming up on 400 while weighing 175ish lbs is very exciting for me.

Deadlifts
Warmup set x 12 twice
225 x 8
385 x 2 twice (400 here I come!)
315 x 8 three sets
225 x 12

Bent over row superset with chins see numbers below
95 x 12
135 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 8
185 x 8
Wide chip chins
4 sets until I couldn't hit at least 8 per set

Wide Lat pulldown 140 x 10 two sets
Close grip lat pulldown 160 x 8 two sets

Seated Row w/ close grip
160 x 8 three sets
Dumbbell chainsaws
50 x 8 three sets

Barbell strict curl superset rope pulldowns
60 x 10 four sets
Rope pulldowns
60 x 10 four sets

Triceps overhead dumbbell extn superset concentration curls
50 x 10 four sets
Concentration curls
30 x 10 four sets

I've been finding my left Bicep/shoulder refion to experience pain when curling lately. I think it has todo with what I've always believed my shoulder issue but me and my physio have narrowed in on the pec Bicep attachment. It's unfortunate but it's forced me to go a little easier sometimes on my arm workouts now too. I also find it helps to be supported by a bench (preacher curls or machine) or concentration curls as opposed to stand dumbbell or barbell curls, its really restricted the weight on my barbell curls which sucks because I love strict slow heavy curls! Hoping 2x a week physio, adding exercises and stretches helps.

Anyone else experience this?

Next post this afternoon will be a template of my diet.

[GearHeaded]

guys like Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler talked about how much protein they would eat . but whats not talked about as much is the massive amounts of fast acting carbs like white rice, white potato, bagel, etc.. they would eat to maintain and gain muscle. Jay was known to eat upwards of 1000 g of carbs per day and that was even while dieting !
when your running gear/AAS , your need for protein goes way down (because of your new ability to retain nitrogen so well) and you become very good at utilizing carbs for not only fuel but muscle retention.

[DeeCee112]

Thanks for the thorough response man. So let's say adding an everything bagel in the morning and another fast carb at lunch or after lunch snack say white bread with my tuna instead of whole grain would be a good idea? Does it matter if consuming fast and slow carbs at the same time or should they be separated? I know I've read that fats should be separated from carbs but I generally disregard that for a waste of my time and energy until cutting. Here's a rough breakdown of an average day for me on a work and training day:

5:00am wakeup wim Hoff style ice cold shower, bowl of oatmeal w/ 2 tablespoons Natty PB and some berries, 1 to 2 scoops whey protein isolate shake w/ 2percent milk, 3 to 5 scrambled or hard boiled eggs (getting sick of eggs and try to vary my protein source instead of 12eggs a day), 3/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt and some Berries. COFFEE

7:30 One avocado, Celery with Natty PB, bannana

9:30 some turkey breast, dark chocolate almonds. Sometimes the 730 and 930 meal are combined in one meal depending on my work schedule that day.

12:00 lunch - 1 to 1.5 chicken breast (or fish) and brown rice and some veggie ie Broccoli or corn or green beans or bell peppers or leftovers from the wife's dinner night before (see dinner options below)

3 or 4pm again dependant on how busy work is for me - 1 can tuna w/ 1 tablespoon Mayo, chopped Celery and green onion. Sometimes on whole wheat bread as a sandwich sometimes just with a good ol fork. My tuna salad is money. Handful chocolate covered cranberries.

530pm Snap necks and cash cheques at the gym. Standard plain Jane preworkout, plain Jane BCAAs intraworkout.

700pm post workout shake 500cals 2g fat 88g carbs 30g protein + BCAAs + 5g creatine mono

730pm Dinner wife cooks: some type of pasta with ground beef, or a meat with rice, veggies ect. As far as portion goes usually eat until I feel sick lol! This is always my sloppiness meal even if she doesn't cook ill go get Jimmy the Greek (1000cals salad, rice, thick dressing and pork or chicken or gyro) or a huge thing of spicy salmon sushi rolls. Post workout shake I find boats me too as it's a mass gainer. May look at self concoction my own from whey isolate and dextrose or whatever good fast carb is these days.

9 or 10pm pass the F out with a bloated full belly lol hoping to get at least 7.5hrs sleep

[Windex]

Thanks for the thorough response man. So let's say adding an everything bagel in the morning and another fast carb at lunch or after lunch snack say white bread with my tuna instead of whole grain would be a good idea? Does it matter if consuming fast and slow carbs at the same time or should they be separated? I know I've read that fats should be separated from carbs but I generally disregard that for a waste of my time and energy until cutting. Here's a rough breakdown of an average day for me on a work and training day:

5:00am wakeup wim Hoff style ice cold shower, bowl of oatmeal w/ 2 tablespoons Natty PB and some berries, 1 to 2 scoops whey protein isolate shake w/ 2percent milk, 3 to 5 scrambled or hard boiled eggs (getting sick of eggs and try to vary my protein source instead of 12eggs a day), 3/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt and some Berries. COFFEE

7:30 One avocado, Celery with Natty PB, bannana

9:30 some turkey breast, dark chocolate almonds. Sometimes the 730 and 930 meal are combined in one meal depending on my work schedule that day.

12:00 lunch - 1 to 1.5 chicken breast (or fish) and brown rice and some veggie ie Broccoli or corn or green beans or bell peppers or leftovers from the wife's dinner night before (see dinner options below)

3 or 4pm again dependant on how busy work is for me - 1 can tuna w/ 1 tablespoon Mayo, chopped Celery and green onion. Sometimes on whole wheat bread as a sandwich sometimes just with a good ol fork. My tuna salad is money. Handful chocolate covered cranberries.

530pm Snap necks and cash cheques at the gym. Standard plain Jane preworkout, plain Jane BCAAs intraworkout.

700pm post workout shake 500cals 2g fat 88g carbs 30g protein + BCAAs + 5g creatine mono

730pm Dinner wife cooks: some type of pasta with ground beef, or a meat with rice, veggies ect. As far as portion goes usually eat until I feel sick lol! This is always my sloppiness meal even if she doesn't cook ill go get Jimmy the Greek (1000cals salad, rice, thick dressing and pork or chicken or gyro) or a huge thing of spicy salmon sushi rolls. Post workout shake I find boats me too as it's a mass gainer. May look at self concoction my own from whey isolate and dextrose or whatever good fast carb is these days.

9 or 10pm pass the F out with a bloated full belly lol hoping to get at least 7.5hrs sleep

If you feeling bloated before sleeping you can try some apple cider vinegar with lemon/lime juice and some salt. Mix with water and down the hatch. Tastes absolutely atrocious though.

[DeeCee112]

If you feeling bloated before sleeping you can try some apple cider vinegar with lemon/lime juice and some salt. Mix with water and down the hatch. Tastes absolutely atrocious though.

Haha thanks for the suggestion. I pretty much feel bloated all day eating this much lol hoping the suggestive enzymes help not sure if the science is behind them but worth a shot. Man I can't even stand the smell of apple cider vinegar but I'll give it a go!

[DeeCee112]

Any other suggestions to training and diet welcome haha.... Even a slap on the ass and an Atta boy keep it up lmao I know I'm not on 1g of 13 compound super cycle little boring but come on!

Didn't make it in for bloodwork today work is busy as hell, hopefully get in Tuesday. I'll post up some results for feedback.

[Windex]

Haha thanks for the suggestion. I pretty much feel bloated all day eating this much lol hoping the suggestive enzymes help not sure if the science is behind them but worth a shot. Man I can't even stand the smell of apple cider vinegar but I'll give it a go!

Just looking over your diet, it's not surprising your bloated all day.

Switching between falling asleep at 9 and 10 is going to impact the sleep cycle and circadian rhythm. Then, your first meal is a huge bolas if dairy (hard on digestive system) partnered with coffee (caffeine triggers gastric juice secretion and digestion). Top it off with oats which is one of the slowest digesting carbs.

Then you add more insult to injury by eating a boat load of fibre a couple hours later as the 730 meal is a giant fibre bomb.

Then you have almost zero sodium until dinner time at which point you are going to be intakint somrwhere around 1000mg+ from Jimmy the Greek.

Your post workout shake looks like one of thos ugly "weight gainer" shakes. It is literally the worst and most useless supplement ever created. A chocolate bar has more value than a gainer powder.

I would use your free time while it's still early in your cycle to read all the educational threads in the diet cycle as yours has significant room for improvement. To be brutally honest, eating that type of meal plan will result in you either getting right back to where you started before gear after coming off, or likely even farther behind due to poor nutrition and huge hormone fluctuations.

Stimulants don't substitute Sleep

Nobody can out train a bad diet

The needle is the smallest point in a program

[GearHeaded]

Primary goal is to gain muscle. Strength gains are also certainly enjoyed. Just looking to pack on as much size as I can then maintain and solidify the new size and lean it out down the road.

Feel free to correct and educate me but as far as fast acting carbs my understanding has always been to limit this to only post workout meal to spike glucose when muscles are most accepting. Otherwise slow release complex carbs is preferred to deliver nutrients and energy slowly and less likely to be deposited as fat.

I will say that a majority of clients that I have on weight loss diets or are cutting, I do limit their fast acting carbs to around the post workout window when glut 4 levels are at their highest. and will use things like sweet potatoes and oats for other meals.
so I think your correct in your thinking here in regards to that aspect. but this has to do a bit more with total energy balance though then it does in regards to the carbs being stored as body fat easier or not (keto advocates will try to lead people to believe that carbs get easily stored as fat, when the truth is the body has to jump through a few metabolic hoops in order to get carbs to store as body fat , where as with actual dietary fat the body has to jump through no hoops at all and will store the fat we eat as body fat directly and without the need for insulin or any other hormone.. dietary fat simply becomes stored fat as easy as that. carbs on the other hand do not, they become glucose and glycogen first and foremost and then AFTER all that is taken care of if your in a surplus the body will go through all the hoops needed for carbs to become stored as fat. but if your giving your body dietary fat, then its going to store that as fat no problem)
^ anyhow, small rant. I'm going beyond my point here

thats more for cutting and diet purposes. but in your situation of having a fast metabolism and wanting to put on some size and strength, then fast acting carbs are going to be a big benefit to you (and not just post workout). fast acting carbs illicit the most anabolic and hormonal responses in the body then anything else we can eat. not only does it illicit these anabolic properties , but it also directly blocks cortisol (which is a catabolic hormone that breaks down muscle tissue).
I have some of my guys who are trying to put on size running 10iu of insulin first thing in the morning when cortisol levels are elevated along with 50+ grams of fast acting carbs (like a white bagel), for the whole purpose of putting a stop to the elevated cortisol and switching the body over from a catabolic state to an anabolic state. (cortisol is a hormone that plays a role in promoting gluconeogenisis where the liver takes proteins, from muscle tissue or whatever is avail, and converting those proteins into glucose to be used as energy) ... so stopping these processes with insulin and fast acting carbs stops these catabolic processes on top of being anabolic (you don't have to use insulin, you can use a natural release of insulin with the carbs you eat).

also.. fast acting carbs help drive nutrients into muscle cells at an accelerated rate due to their hormonal effect and larger insulin spike. these carbs, eliciting a large insulin spike, are then driven into cells (via insulin) and along with them amino acids/proteins, nutrients, minerals, creatine, water, etc.. all catch a ride into the muscle cells . it doesn't get any more anabolic then that. this also helps with strength (as carbs are first source needed to generate the production of ATP for muscle activation) and also really helps with recovery (again the carbs help drive various nutrients, minerals/eleoctrolytes, creatine, and hydrate the cell , as that is part of what a CarboHYDRATE does).

lots more can be said.. but really my opinion is that fast acting carbs illicit the most dramatic hormonal and anabolic processes in the body compared to any other food/macro. which is definitely beneficial for strength, growth, and gym performance.

now a completely separate topic as to why fast acting carbs may not be the best choice while cutting and trying to lose weight. which is really why its popular to restrict fast acting carbs. when your trying to lose weight or lose fat, your actually trying to put your body in a catabolic (breaking down) state, and NOT an anabolic state (building up). so it makes sense to restrict the most anabolic macro when you have to get your body in a catabolic state in order to lose weight and shed fat.
but its a mistake when people with fast metabolisms and who want to grow take this popular dieting approach and apply it to their weight gain diet.