Long Haul

[stxlift]

Hey fellas. I'm gonna attempt to keep track of my progress on this thread - mostly in hope that it will help keep me motivated to stay on track. A little background on myself, I'm from Texas and I'm 6'3 hovering around 220 right now with roughly 17% BF. I just completed what I would consider my first successful bulking cycle. Going from 200 to 225 and topping out at 18% BF. I think this was in part due to me finally realizing that without a good diet, I wasn't getting shit done.

Now I'm no where now a good dieter in that my job makes it hard to do. Fast food options during a 12 sound really good, but we didn't get in this to hear excuses. I think also I've become a better cook where I can actually enjoy my food. Anyways, I'm currently attempting to reduce bodyfat while not dropping so much weight. Today is my first day off and I have a vacation coming up next week (NYC, Washington DC for the 4th). This morning I woke up and took Animal Cuts with 1L of water and about 30 mins later completed some HIIT. Just behind the house did some 10 second sprints, 20 second rest. I think I did around 8 rounds but man this Texas heat sucks.

For breakfast I'm having 3 whole eggs and a rice cake with peanut butter. I'll also have my Pak. For my preworkout meal, probably grill some chicken and have sweet potatoes and kale. I had a leg day yesterday, which I thought was real intense for myself. The run this morning for sure helped get some blood pumping and I don't feel as sore. At around 8pm tonight I'll head to the gym and get some chest in.

Thanks for following if you read this. If you have any suggestions or any tips on what helps you in this game, let me know. I love gaining knowledge in this. Im 22 years old and I think in the long haul, I can make something happen.

[stxlift]

Today was a solid back day. Woke up and took my Cuts with 1L of water. Eggs and oatmeal for breakfast.

Preworkout was Fury with a scoop of CarboPlus and Glutamine.

Back workout as follows -

Deadlift

135 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 8
315 x 5
365 x 3
405 x 1 (straps)

Lat Pulldowns (4 sets of increasing weight)
Cable Row (4 sets of increasing weight)

Barbell Bent over Row

135 x 8 (4 times)

15 minutes of Stair Master

Decline Crunches

8 times for 3 sets (slow and steady to focus on contractions)

[stxlift]

Today I completed shoulders and arms. To me it just feels like I get a better arm pump with my shoulder workout than any other body part, so in my preference I follow it up with arms to just keep riding the pump.

I started off with 5 minutes on the stair climber to warm up. Completed some side laterals (machine) to warm up the shoulders and then followed it with a Military Press.

95 x 8
105 x 8
135 x 8
135 x 8

I'm not comfortable going higher than a plate right now with an over the head shoulder press. I don't know how my shoulders will respond to low rep work.

Dumbell Shoulder Press:

50 x 8 (4 sets)

Moved over to a Rear Delt Fly machine, I can't remember the weight however increased weight during 4 sets of work.

Moved to arms now.

Preacher Curls supersetted with Tricep Press (overhead movement). I usually don't focus to much on arms, but suprisingly I think this part of my body is starting to lag, so I decided to give them some more work.

Close Grip Bench supersetted with Barbell Curls. At this point of the workout, my arms were shot.

85 x 8
95 x 8
135 x 8
135 x 8

Barbell Curls I just did to failure with a 65 pound barbell.

Thanks for reading. Tomorrow I get to enjoy my favorite day of the week, leg day. I am having to put all of these workouts in a row due to a vacation next week. Going to NYC and Washington DC for the 4th. Enjoy your weekends fellas.