The Life and Times of an Ectomorph

w00tw00t111 · 06-20-2007, 02:54 AM

Alrighty guys, this is my first post on ironmass, but I've been reading the forums for about 2 years ago. I thought I'd finally keep a (public) log of my exercise life and nutrition. Before I get into the hard stuff I'll give you some background on me and previous "transitions".

Stats
Age: 18
BodyType: Ectomorph (Yooouuu guessed it)
Weight: 130
Body Fat %: 14% (Using internet calculator)
Waist: 30"
Thighs: 20"
Biceps: 11 3/8"

Story
I started exercising 2 years ago almost to the day. I started because I was overweight and was really tired of it. I mainly did HIIT cardio or high, high rep weight lifting. About 10 months ago I was satisfied with my weight and how I looked. I dropped from 155lbs to 125. I sat at about 9% bodyfat. With that low amount of weight and the small amount of muscle I had, I looked pretty scrawny. That's when I started reading about bulking. Ever since then I've been trying to gain weight. In 10months time I have only gained 5lbs and I'm quite confident that all of that is fat(or at least most of it). I can't seem to gain any muscular weight and my lifting weights don't seem to really go up. I lift at home, I've invested in a squat rack, adjustable bench station, adjustable DB, an olympic bar, and a set of plates (2.5,5,10,25,35, and 45lbs). By my progress, or lack there of, I know I am doing something wrong. During this time I've kept the principles of a clean bulk, after about 1.5 straight years of cutting I can't stand the state of "unhealthy" foods. I estimate that my maintence calories sit at about 2500 so I've tried every day to eat roughly 3000. Most days I succeed, but sometimes I'm not able to stuff my face at work.

The Help I Need
Well, I guess honestly first and foremost, don't laugh at my weights

They are by probably anyone's standards extremely low, I know this and am embaressed by it, but I'm a beginner and everyone has to start somewhere. I'm trying to bump them up!

I also that you please make comments and critiques where ever you see fit. Like I said, I know I must be doing something wrong so please help me find where my mistakes are or what I should change!

Goal
To weigh in at 140lbs and 12% bf by Christmas.
At the end of this six week cycle,
squat: bodyweight
dead: bodyweight + 10
Bench: 90%Bodyweight
Pull Up: 10 x 3
Weigh 135lbs

In reality though, I would be extremely happy just to see a marked improvement in my lifts and my physical size!

Routine
3 Days a Week
Squat
Bench
Dead Lift
Pull Up
Pend Lay

3Weeks into it
Dips
Decline Bench

On Off Days
Ab Work

Supplements
Pro Lab NLarge2 Mass Gainer Protein
ProSource Creatine
White Flood N20
AST Multi

Nutrition
3000KCals or more a day
50% Carb
40% Protein
10% Fat

If you've made it this far....thank you! :-p I promise this'll be the only major long winded post

! And I just hope that this time around I'll be able to make some progress!

w00tw00t111 · 06-20-2007, 03:11 AM

Tuesday 6/19

General
Had work today, I work for an investment firm as a software engineer (designing proprietary investment software and tracking mechanisms for clients). Had a good day at work with very little stress, really out of the ordinary.

Food
Normally I'll have a fitday breakdown of my foods eaten, but today it was hopeless b/c I ate foods that I never eat.

Breakfast 1: Smoothie King Hi Protein Shake
Multi-Vitamin

Breakfast 2: Kashi Whole Grain Snack Bar

Lunch 1: Chicken Breast with past and yellow/red bell peppers

Lunch 2: Oatmeal (Rolled oats, but not the pre-packedged sugary kind, just natural)

Dinner 1 (2 hours before work out): 3/4lb Chuck Roast
Mashed Potatoes (No butter, only skim milk)
Glass of Skim Milk
Zucchini (4 Longitudinal Slices)
Yellow Squash ( 8 longitudinal Slices)
1 Cup Black Eye Peas

White Blood Taken 30 Minutes Before Work Out

Post Work Out: NLarge Shake made with 16 ounces Skim Milk
Multi Vitamin

Total Water Drank: 3.06Gallons

Work Out
In the order they were done

Olympic Squat: 50lb x 8 x 2
Flat Bench: 50lb x 8 x 2
Dead Lift: 60lb x 5 x 3
Pull - Up: {4 then held body at 90deg angle for 10sec} x 2
Pendlay Row: 30lb x 8 x 2

Thoughts
Food today was odd. Usually I eat things that can be easily tracked as to their nutritional value. I went out to lunch with the president of my firm and tried to eat as best I could at an italian restaurant. My mom made some crazy good chuck roast for dinner, really really enjoyed that

! The work out was about typical of what I normally lift and can do. This was the first workout that I have used the white blood with. Normally by the pull-ups I'm extremely tired, not physically but mentally. I'm yawning I'm so tired. Today though, I was able to go through all of it without one yawn! w00t! For the 2 years prior that I worked out, I never worked my legs. I just started doing legs this year (Jan) So if the weight proportions see a little off between my bench and squats I would presume that's why. Deadlifts are always extremely hard for me to do even with really, really light weights. I had planed to do the 8 x 2 like everything else, but I couldn't lift it a 6th time and keep proper form. By the end of the second set of pendlay's my form was rapidly decreasing. Everything else though I was able to keep good form, and will try and go heavier on thursday. Pull ups were done by grabbing the top of my door and pulling myself up, trying hard not to let my body drag on the door face. I can't do 5 pull ups sequentially so a friend recommended that I hold myself up in a static position to try and stimulate my lats until I can do 5 and then do the same thing until I can do 6 and so on and so forth.

Thanks guys

Allen

**Ikaika** · 06-20-2007, 03:21 AM

Sounds like you enjoyed it...3/4 lb? Lol.

I'm glad you're logging this; the experienced guys on the board can offer great advice if you need it. Hope to see some good progress.

**romanaz** · 06-20-2007, 04:01 AM

how is your form on the lists? ex: depth and stance on the squat and stance on the deadlift.

if you could, video's of the lifts could help us help you by allowing us to see mistakes in form. Everyone has them. I would love to help you out with anything (minus the diet, I'm not one to ask for nutritional advice).

This is a great first step and the sky is the limit man.

Welcome aboard.

w00tw00t111 · 06-20-2007, 04:35 AM

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, my mom was pretty shocked b/c we didn't have any left overs and normally we have lots

. It was friggin good!

In regards to the squats, I go past 90 degree knee bending angle (I think it's labeled an olympic squat).
The Deadlifts my legs are a little wider then my shoulder blades, feet are slightly turned out, and I have alternating grips grabbing the bar. Like I said up top, this is always an extremely hard lift for me and I have never felt comfortable with it. Judging from the videos I've watched I'm doing it correctly, but there's always a huge chance that I'm not.
My bench I'm going down to about 1" above my chest and locking out on the top, I hold it at the top for about 2 seconds and then go back down. The whole motion is extremely controlled movement and not any super fast thrust type action.
Pendlay Rows - My knees are slightly bent, I'm bent over at a 90 degree with an inward arch in my back, looking straight ahead. When I pull the way up to my cocsic (sp?) I try my best to "push" my shoulder blades together.

I'll try to get a video posted on youtube. I have a digital camera that can take videos so film quality will be dismal, but hopefully y'all would be able to see well enough to evaluate the quality of my form.

Thanks for so much willingness to help! It is definitely encouraging in and of itself!

**romanaz** · 06-20-2007, 04:42 AM

all my home lifting videos on youtube are done with a 5.0 megapixel kodak crap camera. its not that bad.

How come you stop short on the bench? Hurts to touch?

**MacTech** · 06-20-2007, 04:14 PM

Welcome to IM woot.

Looking at your list of foods, you need to eat more. It doesn't look like 3000 calories to me. Add some more fats and carbs in your diet. Your morning intake of carbs is low and I would have the large dinner an hour or so after your workout. But I don't know your schedule.

You must be floating with 3 gallons of water a day, that's an insane amount.

w00tw00t111 · 06-21-2007, 05:00 AM

Hey guys,
Today was a pretty good day.

I've started using a website called fitday to track what I eat and let's just say, I've become quite suprised by the low amounts of calories that I'm taking in. That is probably one of my really big problems. I eat between 6 - 8 times a day, depending on what all is going on that day and so I'm never hungry, but I guess the foods that I am eating are not ultra calorie dense. They don't have a ton of calories, yet they fill me up and keep me full...great for a cut, terrible for a bulk I would presume. Any who, here is today's foods

Calories Eaten Today
Total:2240
Fat:18%
Carbs:46%
Protein:36%

Today's Foods

Breakfast 1
Sun Maid Raisins
Quaker Oats Oatmeal
Skim Milk (28oz)

No Break at work for Breakfast 2

Lunch 1
Chick Fil A Chargrilled Chicken Sand

Lunch 2
Chick Fil A Chargrilled Chicken Sand

Pre Work Out
Tortilla Soup and leg of rotessiere chicken

Post Work Out
Natural Peanut Butter Sandwich
Skim Milk (28oz)

1.5 Hours Post Work Out (Dinner)
Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten
Tortilla, whole wheat

2.97 Gallons of Water

Excercise
Abs
Side Crunch 20x3 (Laying on your back and doing a Russian twist)
Leg Raise 20x3 (Failed at 20)
Raised Oblique Crunch 20x2 (Hold yourself up with one arm perpendicular to the ground and crunch in towards the ground)(Don't know if that's the correct name)
Bridge 2minutes 20 sec (20 second bump from sunday)

Conclusion
Overall, I need to work a lot harder at eating more. I'm rarely ever hungry, so I guess I need to focus more on eating calorie dense foods that are still healthy and protein/carb heavy when I do eat. Any suggestions on that would be great! The leg raises tonight were killer. Last sunday I was only able to do 15x3, but tonight I wanted to do it till I couldn't any more. Hence, the 20. I was also able to bump up the bridge 20 seconds. The last 20 seconds were killer, but it was progress. Periodization wise, I'm not sure if it would be better to start with the bridge and then do the rest or not. I've read that abs are best trained by slow tensing exercises rather than short bursts (like crunches) just a thought I had after I did everything.

Oh and Mac, about the water. Let's just say I'm like a liquid dump truck. :p I constantly drink at work, when I'm at home and anytime I'm eating. At lunch today I had the server refill my glass 3 times (32oz with no ice). If I drank booze, I'd be so screwed.

Anywho, I'm out.

danman77220 · 06-21-2007, 09:29 AM

Welcome to Ironmass! You'll like it here, loads of helpful people.

I like how dedicated you are right off the bat, I never kept a log in the beginning of my first bulk and I sure as hell didn't monitor all my meals like you are. Hell, I didn't even squat or deadlift. Doh!

Don't get discouraged by low weight numbers, they'll go up! I've been there before, believe me! My numbers were pretty bad for my weight last August, but in 10 months I managed to double my bench, add 110 lbs. to my squat and almost 90 lbs to my deadlift! The most important thing is to just keep at it! You'll blow up huge, trust me!

Good luck bro!

**DJSTARER** · 06-21-2007, 01:03 PM

you will exceed your goals... easily. You'll probably double them by christmas.

**romanaz** · 06-21-2007, 09:28 PM

Man, your eating what I should be eating (calorie wise) for cutting!

2.97 gallons of water, and damn I thought I was crazy with 1.5 a day!

w00tw00t111 · 06-23-2007, 05:20 AM

Alrighty guys, sorry for the lack of update yesterday. It was a pretty crazy night/day. I did get a work out in though! And I tried really really hard to up my calorie intake. I've just determined though that it is just ridiculously hard to get that 3k. I'm pretty convinced that I'm either going to have to eat myself sick, or just eat a little bit "dirtier". Not junk food by any means, but maybe throw in a few hamburgers here and there and things like that, that still have nutritional value, but have a really high calorie count.

6/21

Total:3587
Fat:22%
Carbs:52%
Protein:26%

Foods
Quaker Oats Oatmeal
Skim Milk

Skinless 1/2 of Chicken
Broccoli
Baked Potato

Peanut Butter Crackers
Kashi Cherry Bar

Pre Work Out 1hour
9 Grain Bread
Natural Peanut Butter
Skim Milk

30minutes Pre Workout
White Flood

30 Minutes Post Workout
24oz Skim milk w/ 1 TBSP Creatine
9Grain Bread

1.5hour post
2 Cups Jasmine Rice
2 Cups Skirt Steak

2 Hour Post Workout
1 Cup Jasmine Rice

Kashi Cherry Bar
Skim Milk
9 Grain Bread

Workout
Squat: 50lbs 8x2
Flat Bench: 50lbs 8x1, 10x1
Pull up: 4x2 (Hang after 4 for 10seconds)
Dead: 60lbs 8x2
Pendlay Row: 30lbs 8x2

Pretty much the same reps and weights as before, but it seemed a little easier tonight. The DOMS in my legs were pretty heavy all day, but after my first set of squats they felt a lot better. I'm guessing the increased blood flow helped remove some of the built up lactic acid. I'm hoping to do 5x2 on the pull ups next time, and I think I can bump up the squat as well. I was able to get some videos posted up Romanaz, so hopefully my form is correct. The links are as follows:
Squat:
http://www.youtube.com/v/TbnQejN4MsU

Bench
Bench video got messed up, will repost later

Dead Lift First Set
http://www.youtube.com/v/-aupKsFJ-wk

Dead Lift Second Set
http://www.youtube.com/v/JzKGVsodI-w

Pendlay
http://www.youtube.com/v/drVaw2k-stw

That's some awesome progress Danman! I really hope I can do that much, or more. Double my goals by xmas would be insane DJStarter. But, like I said from the beginning. I haven't seen much progress period, so any progress would be quite welcome.

6/22
Today was an extremely weird day. I took off from work and had a list a mile long of things to do. The first of which was to go to my mechanics and help him change out my door poppers on my doors.(I have shaved handles) Well, that was only supposed to take an hour, but ended up taking all day.
For Breakfast I had
1Cup Oatmeal
1/8Cup (roughly) Raisens
30oz Skim Milk
Multi

No Breakfast 2

Lunch
Double Meat Whataburger w/ cheese pickles and mustard only
Water to drink

Snack later at 4:30
2 Kashi Whole Grain bars = 240KCals

Water

Dinner at 7:30 @ Church
2Chicken Breasts (Skin removed)
4Slices Brisket
1 Slice Wheat Bread
2 Deviled Eggs
2 Links of Sausage
1 Cup Beans (Pintos)
Water to drink

Dinner 2 @ 9:30
Chicken Breast (Skinless)
1 Cup Mashed potatoes made with skim milk (no butter)
24oz Skim Milk w/ 1tbsp creatine

So, today was really rushed and weird. Didn't get an ab workout in and ruined my nutrition for the day. I tried to make up for it at the dinners though. I couldn't be eating / drinking at the shop and then I had to go to my accupuncturist at 4:30...so it was a busy day. I'm going to do better tomorrow for sure!

Thanks guys. Hopefully those videos will help and any suggestions on foods I can eat that pack a huge calorie punch, but are still healthy I'm open ears.

A friend of mine that I work out with recommended boiled eggs. Soy Protein, pretty good amount of calories, and 1 won't fill you up. So, you could get quite a few calories in quickly, cheaply, and wouldn't feel sick after eating them.

Just a thought.

**romanaz** · 06-23-2007, 05:46 AM

squats:

you could stand sitting back a bit more, without seeing your feet it looks like your knees are going over your toes and that can be bad for your knees.

Deadlifts:
Keep your hips higher up from the start and don't try and squat the weight up as much. The deadlift should be different from the squat.

Watch how in my video, my hips don't start to low, my chest/shoulders are slightly over the bar or behind it. By the time the bar is at your knees, your legs should be straight. Thats a good rule of thumb.

For your rows, your back is rounded, which is bad. !!!!

Also, soy products increase your estrogen, and none of us (including and specifically you and others who want to gain muscle mass) need that crap!

danman77220 · 06-23-2007, 08:41 AM

Three important tips on nutrition:

1) DRINK WHEY PROTEIN POST WORKOUT
2) DRINK WHEY PROTEIN POST WORKOUT
3) DRINK WHEY PROTEIN WITHIN 20 MINUTES OF FINISHING A WORKOUT

Also, simple carbs and sugars are vital along with your protein drink. Some gatorade or something should do the trick. Here's a cool page I found talking about PWO nutrition.

Post-Workout Drink - Part One: Carbs, Protein, and Fat

Good job on hittin the weights man. Keep it up.

w00tw00t111 · 06-25-2007, 06:01 AM

Hey guys,

Hope everybody is doing well. I know I sure am!! I had what was probably the best workout ever. Awesome, awesome, awesome!

Total calories eaten today, rougly 3100. So, I'm excited about that as well. I don't have the percentile breakdown, but as usual I know it is leaning heavily in the carb section.

Anywho, onto the workout itself. I worked out with my friend that's on the police force. Anytime we work out we always work out at the police gym, so that's a definite change of pace for me (compared to working out in my bedroom).

Work Out

Squats
70* (on smith machine) 10 x 3
I'm not sure how the weights equate to a straight barbell, but I was able to do 3 sets instead of 2. I did my second and I was like "shoot, I can pump out another for sure!"
I took extra notice Romanaz to make sure my knees didn't go past my toes and that I "sat back" a little more. I looked at some youtube videos last night and I think I've got the "squating" action down a little bit better. Next time I work out I'm going to take some more vids.

Bench Press
60* 10x1, 80* 8x1, 5x1
10 / 30 lbs increase from previously
I decided to bump up my weight 10* and was able to pump out 10 really easily. After my first set I said to myself "I've got a friend here that can spot me, why not go for a little more weight?" So I asked Scott to spot the 80* and on the first go 'round I was able to pump out 6 unaided, but on the last two I was reeeaally struggling so he jumped in a little bit. After that set though he egged me to do 3 more in a minute. I waited about 2.5 minutes and was able to get 3 out unaided and on the last two he helped. The 5th push was incredibly difficult. I kept pushing, but the bar just wasn't going up! :p

Dead Lifts
70* 10x3
10* increase
Thanks for the advice on the deads Romanaz! I checked out your video and several others last night and practiced the movement over and over and over. (You were moving some major weight over there by the way, so great job on that!)
I decided to try 10 extra lbs tonight and sure enough, I was able to lift it! w00t! And I believe my form was much better as well. I kept my butt higher and lifted more with my back and glute/upper hams. Coincedentally Scott was doing his deads at the same time as me so I asked him to critique and couldn't make any comment so with my next video hopefully it'll prove to be correct form. w00t! Also, deads were never a "comfortable" lift for me. They always seemed extremely awkward even with no weight on the bar, but tonight it was extremely manageable and seemed more "natural" of a movement. So, hopefully I'm doing them correct

Pull Ups
4 x 2 (10 Second Hold)
8 x 2 (30* weight reduction)
They have a dip/pull up bar at the gym. On the first two sets I was barely able to do 4. The difference between the station and a door, is the door keeps your body in a completely vertical state, in other words your body doesn't really move around. Since the bar is just open with very little structure to it, my body had more freedom of movement and I believe that's what made it so difficult. It also has a little "see-saw" type bench for your knees that you can add weight to, to reduce how much weight you are pulling up. I added 30lbs and was able to crank out 8 more reps twice. I was pretty stoaked about that! For a frame of reference, a month ago I couldn't do 3 pull ups on that thing unassisted.

T-Bar Rows
60* 8x3
Instead of doing pendlay rows tonight, I decided to try the T-Bar. They don't have a T-Bar machine so what I did was placed all the weight on one end of the barbell and then had a baseball style grip and lifted the weight to my chest. This felt alot more fluid of a lift then the pendlay, and it felt as though it was stimulating my lats and middle back more then the pendlay row did the other night. I'm not sure whether this would be a better lift for me then the pendlay's or not, but I just felt like trying it.

Abs
15 x 2 Incline bench Crunch w/ oblique cross-over (45deg)
2 minute bridge
20 x 1 Laying Oblique Crunch
20 x 1 Traditional Crunch

All in all I had a GREAT workout. I'm honestly not sure why exactly. I took the White Flood 25 minutes before working out and I'm not sure if it's effects are starting to fully kick in (3rd time I've used it), but none-the-less I had a great workout and wouldn't mind having one like this everytime!

Nutrition
Breakfast
Natural Peanut Butter Sandwich
Low Carb Slim Fast

No Breakfast 2
(Was at Church)

Lunch
Small Lasagna
Chicken Parmigane
Chicken Cannelloni

Lunch 2 (2hrs before workout)
Whole Grain Toast
Natural Peanut Butter Sandwich

25 Pre Workout
White Flood

30 Post
1 Whole Grain Bread
18oz Skim Milk

1hr Post
Boiled Skinless Boneless Chicken Breast
Slice Whole Grain Bread

Sorry again about no protein shakes today. I ran out of powder a few days ago and have ordered some more, but it hasn't come in yet. Hopefully by tuesday it'll be in. Thanks for the advice though Danman, I'll definitely be takin' you up on it in a few days!

06-20-2007, 02:54 AM	#1
w00tw00t111 New Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 8 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 0	The Life and Times of an Ectomorph Alrighty guys, this is my first post on ironmass, but I've been reading the forums for about 2 years ago. I thought I'd finally keep a (public) log of my exercise life and nutrition. Before I get into the hard stuff I'll give you some background on me and previous "transitions". Stats Age: 18 BodyType: Ectomorph (Yooouuu guessed it) Weight: 130 Body Fat %: 14% (Using internet calculator) Waist: 30" Thighs: 20" Biceps: 11 3/8" Story I started exercising 2 years ago almost to the day. I started because I was overweight and was really tired of it. I mainly did HIIT cardio or high, high rep weight lifting. About 10 months ago I was satisfied with my weight and how I looked. I dropped from 155lbs to 125. I sat at about 9% bodyfat. With that low amount of weight and the small amount of muscle I had, I looked pretty scrawny. That's when I started reading about bulking. Ever since then I've been trying to gain weight. In 10months time I have only gained 5lbs and I'm quite confident that all of that is fat(or at least most of it). I can't seem to gain any muscular weight and my lifting weights don't seem to really go up. I lift at home, I've invested in a squat rack, adjustable bench station, adjustable DB, an olympic bar, and a set of plates (2.5,5,10,25,35, and 45lbs). By my progress, or lack there of, I know I am doing something wrong. During this time I've kept the principles of a clean bulk, after about 1.5 straight years of cutting I can't stand the state of "unhealthy" foods. I estimate that my maintence calories sit at about 2500 so I've tried every day to eat roughly 3000. Most days I succeed, but sometimes I'm not able to stuff my face at work. The Help I Need Well, I guess honestly first and foremost, don't laugh at my weights They are by probably anyone's standards extremely low, I know this and am embaressed by it, but I'm a beginner and everyone has to start somewhere. I'm trying to bump them up! I also that you please make comments and critiques where ever you see fit. Like I said, I know I must be doing something wrong so please help me find where my mistakes are or what I should change! Goal To weigh in at 140lbs and 12% bf by Christmas. At the end of this six week cycle, squat: bodyweight dead: bodyweight + 10 Bench: 90%Bodyweight Pull Up: 10 x 3 Weigh 135lbs In reality though, I would be extremely happy just to see a marked improvement in my lifts and my physical size! Routine 3 Days a Week Squat Bench Dead Lift Pull Up Pend Lay 3Weeks into it Dips Decline Bench On Off Days Ab Work Supplements Pro Lab NLarge2 Mass Gainer Protein ProSource Creatine White Flood N20 AST Multi Nutrition 3000KCals or more a day 50% Carb 40% Protein 10% Fat If you've made it this far....thank you! :-p I promise this'll be the only major long winded post ! And I just hope that this time around I'll be able to make some progress!

06-20-2007, 03:11 AM	#2
w00tw00t111 New Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 8 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 0	The Life and Times of an Ectomorph Tuesday 6/19 General Had work today, I work for an investment firm as a software engineer (designing proprietary investment software and tracking mechanisms for clients). Had a good day at work with very little stress, really out of the ordinary. Food Normally I'll have a fitday breakdown of my foods eaten, but today it was hopeless b/c I ate foods that I never eat. Breakfast 1: Smoothie King Hi Protein Shake Multi-Vitamin Breakfast 2: Kashi Whole Grain Snack Bar Lunch 1: Chicken Breast with past and yellow/red bell peppers Lunch 2: Oatmeal (Rolled oats, but not the pre-packedged sugary kind, just natural) Dinner 1 (2 hours before work out): 3/4lb Chuck Roast Mashed Potatoes (No butter, only skim milk) Glass of Skim Milk Zucchini (4 Longitudinal Slices) Yellow Squash ( 8 longitudinal Slices) 1 Cup Black Eye Peas White Blood Taken 30 Minutes Before Work Out Post Work Out: NLarge Shake made with 16 ounces Skim Milk Multi Vitamin Total Water Drank: 3.06Gallons Work Out In the order they were done Olympic Squat: 50lb x 8 x 2 Flat Bench: 50lb x 8 x 2 Dead Lift: 60lb x 5 x 3 Pull - Up: {4 then held body at 90deg angle for 10sec} x 2 Pendlay Row: 30lb x 8 x 2 Thoughts Food today was odd. Usually I eat things that can be easily tracked as to their nutritional value. I went out to lunch with the president of my firm and tried to eat as best I could at an italian restaurant. My mom made some crazy good chuck roast for dinner, really really enjoyed that ! The work out was about typical of what I normally lift and can do. This was the first workout that I have used the white blood with. Normally by the pull-ups I'm extremely tired, not physically but mentally. I'm yawning I'm so tired. Today though, I was able to go through all of it without one yawn! w00t! For the 2 years prior that I worked out, I never worked my legs. I just started doing legs this year (Jan) So if the weight proportions see a little off between my bench and squats I would presume that's why. Deadlifts are always extremely hard for me to do even with really, really light weights. I had planed to do the 8 x 2 like everything else, but I couldn't lift it a 6th time and keep proper form. By the end of the second set of pendlay's my form was rapidly decreasing. Everything else though I was able to keep good form, and will try and go heavier on thursday. Pull ups were done by grabbing the top of my door and pulling myself up, trying hard not to let my body drag on the door face. I can't do 5 pull ups sequentially so a friend recommended that I hold myself up in a static position to try and stimulate my lats until I can do 5 and then do the same thing until I can do 6 and so on and so forth. Thanks guys Allen

06-20-2007, 03:21 AM	#3
Ikaika resident degen Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 3,795 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 214	Re: The Life and Times of an Ectomorph Sounds like you enjoyed it...3/4 lb? Lol. I'm glad you're logging this; the experienced guys on the board can offer great advice if you need it. Hope to see some good progress. __________________ No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.

06-20-2007, 04:35 AM	#5
w00tw00t111 New Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 8 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 0	Re: The Life and Times of an Ectomorph Thanks for the replies. Yeah, my mom was pretty shocked b/c we didn't have any left overs and normally we have lots . It was friggin good! In regards to the squats, I go past 90 degree knee bending angle (I think it's labeled an olympic squat). The Deadlifts my legs are a little wider then my shoulder blades, feet are slightly turned out, and I have alternating grips grabbing the bar. Like I said up top, this is always an extremely hard lift for me and I have never felt comfortable with it. Judging from the videos I've watched I'm doing it correctly, but there's always a huge chance that I'm not. My bench I'm going down to about 1" above my chest and locking out on the top, I hold it at the top for about 2 seconds and then go back down. The whole motion is extremely controlled movement and not any super fast thrust type action. Pendlay Rows - My knees are slightly bent, I'm bent over at a 90 degree with an inward arch in my back, looking straight ahead. When I pull the way up to my cocsic (sp?) I try my best to "push" my shoulder blades together. I'll try to get a video posted on youtube. I have a digital camera that can take videos so film quality will be dismal, but hopefully y'all would be able to see well enough to evaluate the quality of my form. Thanks for so much willingness to help! It is definitely encouraging in and of itself!

06-20-2007, 04:14 PM	#7
MacTech IronMassoholic Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: State of well being Posts: 439 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 35	Re: The Life and Times of an Ectomorph Welcome to IM woot. Looking at your list of foods, you need to eat more. It doesn't look like 3000 calories to me. Add some more fats and carbs in your diet. Your morning intake of carbs is low and I would have the large dinner an hour or so after your workout. But I don't know your schedule. You must be floating with 3 gallons of water a day, that's an insane amount. __________________ Still going thru life one rep at a time. My training journal.

06-21-2007, 05:00 AM	#8
w00tw00t111 New Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 8 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 0	Re: The Life and Times of an Ectomorph Hey guys, Today was a pretty good day. I've started using a website called fitday to track what I eat and let's just say, I've become quite suprised by the low amounts of calories that I'm taking in. That is probably one of my really big problems. I eat between 6 - 8 times a day, depending on what all is going on that day and so I'm never hungry, but I guess the foods that I am eating are not ultra calorie dense. They don't have a ton of calories, yet they fill me up and keep me full...great for a cut, terrible for a bulk I would presume. Any who, here is today's foods Calories Eaten Today Total:2240 Fat:18% Carbs:46% Protein:36% Today's Foods Breakfast 1 Sun Maid Raisins Quaker Oats Oatmeal Skim Milk (28oz) No Break at work for Breakfast 2 Lunch 1 Chick Fil A Chargrilled Chicken Sand Lunch 2 Chick Fil A Chargrilled Chicken Sand Pre Work Out Tortilla Soup and leg of rotessiere chicken Post Work Out Natural Peanut Butter Sandwich Skim Milk (28oz) 1.5 Hours Post Work Out (Dinner) Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten Tortilla, whole wheat 2.97 Gallons of Water Excercise Abs Side Crunch 20x3 (Laying on your back and doing a Russian twist) Leg Raise 20x3 (Failed at 20) Raised Oblique Crunch 20x2 (Hold yourself up with one arm perpendicular to the ground and crunch in towards the ground)(Don't know if that's the correct name) Bridge 2minutes 20 sec (20 second bump from sunday) Conclusion Overall, I need to work a lot harder at eating more. I'm rarely ever hungry, so I guess I need to focus more on eating calorie dense foods that are still healthy and protein/carb heavy when I do eat. Any suggestions on that would be great! The leg raises tonight were killer. Last sunday I was only able to do 15x3, but tonight I wanted to do it till I couldn't any more. Hence, the 20. I was also able to bump up the bridge 20 seconds. The last 20 seconds were killer, but it was progress. Periodization wise, I'm not sure if it would be better to start with the bridge and then do the rest or not. I've read that abs are best trained by slow tensing exercises rather than short bursts (like crunches) just a thought I had after I did everything. Oh and Mac, about the water. Let's just say I'm like a liquid dump truck. :p I constantly drink at work, when I'm at home and anytime I'm eating. At lunch today I had the server refill my glass 3 times (32oz with no ice). If I drank booze, I'd be so screwed. Anywho, I'm out.

06-21-2007, 09:29 AM	#9
danman77220 Pro Stature Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 1,018 Recipes: 1 Rep Power: 50	Re: The Life and Times of an Ectomorph Welcome to Ironmass! You'll like it here, loads of helpful people. I like how dedicated you are right off the bat, I never kept a log in the beginning of my first bulk and I sure as hell didn't monitor all my meals like you are. Hell, I didn't even squat or deadlift. Doh! Don't get discouraged by low weight numbers, they'll go up! I've been there before, believe me! My numbers were pretty bad for my weight last August, but in 10 months I managed to double my bench, add 110 lbs. to my squat and almost 90 lbs to my deadlift! The most important thing is to just keep at it! You'll blow up huge, trust me! Good luck bro! __________________ Accomplishment tastes better than cheesecake. Stats(/goals): Age: 18 Weight: 193 BF%: 19%/8% Max Lifts B: Poop S: Pee D: Status: Gaining back strength and size after tonsillectomy My Training Log

06-21-2007, 01:03 PM	#10
DJSTARER eating more folate... Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: State College, PA Posts: 3,979 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 113	Re: The Life and Times of an Ectomorph you will exceed your goals... easily. You'll probably double them by christmas. __________________ My philosophies on training: "Extreme training yields extreme results" "Just because you can, does not mean you should" "The best program is the one you are not doing" Penn State Powerlifting-181 lb weightclass PGA Professional of America Current Stats: 474 Squat 601 Deadlift 320 Bench Goals for next training cycle: 500lbs squat and a total over 1400 in competition

06-23-2007, 05:20 AM	#12
w00tw00t111 New Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 8 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 0	Re: The Life and Times of an Ectomorph Alrighty guys, sorry for the lack of update yesterday. It was a pretty crazy night/day. I did get a work out in though! And I tried really really hard to up my calorie intake. I've just determined though that it is just ridiculously hard to get that 3k. I'm pretty convinced that I'm either going to have to eat myself sick, or just eat a little bit "dirtier". Not junk food by any means, but maybe throw in a few hamburgers here and there and things like that, that still have nutritional value, but have a really high calorie count. 6/21 Total:3587 Fat:22% Carbs:52% Protein:26% Foods Quaker Oats Oatmeal Skim Milk Skinless 1/2 of Chicken Broccoli Baked Potato Peanut Butter Crackers Kashi Cherry Bar Pre Work Out 1hour 9 Grain Bread Natural Peanut Butter Skim Milk 30minutes Pre Workout White Flood 30 Minutes Post Workout 24oz Skim milk w/ 1 TBSP Creatine 9Grain Bread 1.5hour post 2 Cups Jasmine Rice 2 Cups Skirt Steak 2 Hour Post Workout 1 Cup Jasmine Rice Kashi Cherry Bar Skim Milk 9 Grain Bread Workout Squat: 50lbs 8x2 Flat Bench: 50lbs 8x1, 10x1 Pull up: 4x2 (Hang after 4 for 10seconds) Dead: 60lbs 8x2 Pendlay Row: 30lbs 8x2 Pretty much the same reps and weights as before, but it seemed a little easier tonight. The DOMS in my legs were pretty heavy all day, but after my first set of squats they felt a lot better. I'm guessing the increased blood flow helped remove some of the built up lactic acid. I'm hoping to do 5x2 on the pull ups next time, and I think I can bump up the squat as well. I was able to get some videos posted up Romanaz, so hopefully my form is correct. The links are as follows: Squat: http://www.youtube.com/v/TbnQejN4MsU Bench Bench video got messed up, will repost later Dead Lift First Set http://www.youtube.com/v/-aupKsFJ-wk Dead Lift Second Set http://www.youtube.com/v/JzKGVsodI-w Pendlay http://www.youtube.com/v/drVaw2k-stw That's some awesome progress Danman! I really hope I can do that much, or more. Double my goals by xmas would be insane DJStarter. But, like I said from the beginning. I haven't seen much progress period, so any progress would be quite welcome. 6/22 Today was an extremely weird day. I took off from work and had a list a mile long of things to do. The first of which was to go to my mechanics and help him change out my door poppers on my doors.(I have shaved handles) Well, that was only supposed to take an hour, but ended up taking all day. For Breakfast I had 1Cup Oatmeal 1/8Cup (roughly) Raisens 30oz Skim Milk Multi No Breakfast 2 Lunch Double Meat Whataburger w/ cheese pickles and mustard only Water to drink Snack later at 4:30 2 Kashi Whole Grain bars = 240KCals Water Dinner at 7:30 @ Church 2Chicken Breasts (Skin removed) 4Slices Brisket 1 Slice Wheat Bread 2 Deviled Eggs 2 Links of Sausage 1 Cup Beans (Pintos) Water to drink Dinner 2 @ 9:30 Chicken Breast (Skinless) 1 Cup Mashed potatoes made with skim milk (no butter) 24oz Skim Milk w/ 1tbsp creatine So, today was really rushed and weird. Didn't get an ab workout in and ruined my nutrition for the day. I tried to make up for it at the dinners though. I couldn't be eating / drinking at the shop and then I had to go to my accupuncturist at 4:30...so it was a busy day. I'm going to do better tomorrow for sure! Thanks guys. Hopefully those videos will help and any suggestions on foods I can eat that pack a huge calorie punch, but are still healthy I'm open ears. A friend of mine that I work out with recommended boiled eggs. Soy Protein, pretty good amount of calories, and 1 won't fill you up. So, you could get quite a few calories in quickly, cheaply, and wouldn't feel sick after eating them. Just a thought.

06-23-2007, 08:41 AM	#14
danman77220 Pro Stature Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 1,018 Recipes: 1 Rep Power: 50	Re: The Life and Times of an Ectomorph Three important tips on nutrition: 1) DRINK WHEY PROTEIN POST WORKOUT 2) DRINK WHEY PROTEIN POST WORKOUT 3) DRINK WHEY PROTEIN WITHIN 20 MINUTES OF FINISHING A WORKOUT Also, simple carbs and sugars are vital along with your protein drink. Some gatorade or something should do the trick. Here's a cool page I found talking about PWO nutrition. Post-Workout Drink - Part One: Carbs, Protein, and Fat Good job on hittin the weights man. Keep it up. __________________ Accomplishment tastes better than cheesecake. Stats(/goals): Age: 18 Weight: 193 BF%: 19%/8% Max Lifts B: Poop S: Pee D: Status: Gaining back strength and size after tonsillectomy My Training Log