Appollonian Journey

[Appollonian]

Decided it's time to start logging regularly... I've tried before, but came up with excuses not to. First it was 'when I can bench 185 lb, I'll post', or when I deadlift 275 lb, I'll post', and each time I met a goal, I came up with another. I'll log my workouts, and detail weights where important.

I am about 225 lb, at 6'4".

My long term goals are to be the biggest, leanest, strongest, fittest 'me' I can be.

[Joe J]

I'm subbed for this one buddy, looking forward to seeing the diet!

[Appollonian]

I'm subbed for this one buddy, looking forward to seeing the diet!

Thanks for checking in; it's nothing magical, and honestly right now it's just enough to put on about 0.5 pound a week.

Meals from yesterday (typical workout day meal plan)
7/19/2011

Breakfast (0500) - 100 gm oats, 1 serving of whole grain cereal, 2 cups milk, 4 egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1 banana
Snack 1 (0845) - 1 cup milk, 1 scoop whey, peanut butter banana sandwhich
Lunch (1145) - 100 gm (raw weight) jasmine rice, 5 - 7 ounces (raw weight) cooked beef, 1 serving low fat cheese seasoning, 1 large apple
Snack 2 (1515) - same as Snack 1
Pre-workout (1800) - 50 gm oats, 1 scoop whey, 1 serving of fig
Intra - 10 gm sports drink mix in 20 ounces of water
Immediate Postworkout (1930) - 1 pack of nitro, 10 ounces of intra drink
Postworkout (2000) - 60 gm sport drink mix, 1.5 cup milk, 1 scoop of whey
Dinner (2100) - Spaghetti noodles with my own version of alfredo sauce and 5 - 7 ounces (raw weight) chicken, 1 serving low fat cheese, 1 large apple
Night time (0100) - 1 cup milk, 1 serving peanut butter, 1 scoop whey (I almost always wake up in the middle of the night for one reason or another, so I'll crush this quick)

Total calories: roughly 4700 or 4800. I go from just under 3800 non workout days, up to 4800 workout days.

Hopefully soon I can start replacing snacks 1 and 2 with some chicken and rice or what-not, but until then I figure some protein is better than none.

[Bruiser]

Glad to see you started a journey. I'll definitely be watching to see how you do. The diet looks real good. Good luck with this and let me know if you need anything.

[Appollonian]

Glad to see you started a journey. I'll definitely be watching to see how you do. The diet looks real good. Good luck with this and let me know if you need anything.

Thanks for checking in Bruiser. Glad to have you onboard.

My diet is an ever evolving work in progress. My body seems to do well with high carbs, so I'm working with that right now.

Any advice is welcome, let's see where this goes!

[Appollonian]

Current supplementation is as follows:

The timing depends on my workout: sometimes I workout at night, other days at 5 AM. The following assumes the same timing as my sample daily diet.

Animal Pak 1 pak with breakfast
Animal M-Stak* stim pill 2 hr pre-workout
Animal M-Stak* 1 pak (minus stim pill) + Animal Rage + 2 gm creatine mono 30 - 60 minutes after pre-workout meal
Animal Nitro 1 pak Immediate on racking my last weights
Universal Storm 1 serving with postworkout shake
Animal Flex 1 pak with dinner (only when I'm experiencing long term aches/pains in tissue)

*Currently taking one can of M-Stak every 2 - 3 months while trying to build up my muscle base.

I've taken more supplements before, and I'm settled on this for now. If I don't think something is working, I'll cut it out and see how I feel and how my workouts and my overall feelings go for a few weeks. Same thing for when I add anything.

[Appollonian]

I lift 4 days a week, cardio 4 days a week, and nominally 1 day a week is rested.

Mon - Quad/Ham/Calves/Abs
Tue - Back/Chest/Abs
Wed - Shoulders/Traps/Abs/Cardio
Thurs - Triceps/Biceps/Forearms/Abs/Cardio
Fri - Rest
Sat - Calves/Abs/Cardio (obliques only)
Sun - Cardio

This is my 6th iteration of my workout schedule in the last 10 years, and I'm not against changing it, but I like to give a routine 6 months at least before switching it up. I've been on my current split for probably about 3 - 4 years now

1st routine was in high school and I could only go to the gym twice a week, so it was two full body workouts
2nd routine was freshman year of college and it was the whole body trained in 3 days, 1 - 2 days rest, then repeat
3rd routine was also freshman year of college and was a more spreadout split, with 4 - 5 training days per week
4th, 5th and 6th routines was after graduation until now and is a 4 day a week split, except it was with different body parts together on different days, and varying amounts of cardio.

My gains in college were measureable, but not as much as I've experienced in the 5 years since graduating. Freshman year, in seperate incidents, I injured my right shoulder (dislocated and inflammed tendon), hurt my back, and injured my right wrist. I never let a single one of these heal completely before resuming training, so it wasn't until my late in my junior year I was able to train almost (completely) pain free as one or more of these injuires would flare up whenever I was pushing harder in the gym.

The aforementioned injuries are a big reason my split looks like it does: legs trained all in one day so that I can properly warm my lower back up on the day that hits that area the hardes. Chest/back and then shoulders trained on subsequent days so I can give my shoulder a break as long as possible before using it again. Again I'm not against changing the routine, but I evaluate things carefully when making changes, and will always put my long term mobility over potential short term gains.

[Appollonian]

7/18/2011 7:45 PM 50 minute workout bodyweight ~213

Barbell Squat: 2 warmup sets, 5x275, 12x225, 3x265
Deadlift: 4 sets 8-15, highlight was 8x335
Superset
Barbell Squat: 3 sets 12
Standing calf raises: 4 sets 10-12
Superset
Leg Extension: 5 sets
Seated Ham Curls: 5 sets
Seated 1 Leg calf press: 2 sets
Reverse crunches: 4 sets, 120 reps total
Machine Leg Press (focus on feeling where the quad inserts to the knee) 40 rest pause reps total
Roman Chair Oblique Crunches: 50 reps per side

Pre: Rage + Creatine Mono + M-Stak (stims taken 2 hr previously)
Intra/Immediate Post: Gatorade + Nitro
Post: Milk/protein + Storm + gatorade

I was thinking about doing a 5/3/1 style workout, but my set of 275 with the squat was solid, but felt drained. Then I hit 225 for 12 reps and felt pumped up, so I loaded the bar with 265, but was fairly tired out at that point.

I felt down on myself, so I asked my wife to critique my squat form. She happily agreed, never being one to let me get sloppy in the gym, and then sent me a video of myself via text, and to my suprise it was pretty good. This temporary ego boost helped me power through the rest of the workout.

[Funky]

7/18/2011 7:45 PM 50 minute workout bodyweight ~213

Barbell Squat: 2 warmup sets, 5x275, 12x225, 3x265
Deadlift: 4 sets 8-15, highlight was 8x335
Superset
Barbell Squat: 3 sets 12
Standing calf raises: 4 sets 10-12
Superset
Leg Extension: 5 sets
Seated Ham Curls: 5 sets
Seated 1 Leg calf press: 2 sets
Reverse crunches: 4 sets, 120 reps total
Machine Leg Press (focus on feeling where the quad inserts to the knee) 40 rest pause reps total
Roman Chair Oblique Crunches: 50 reps per side

Pre: Rage + Creatine Mono + M-Stak (stims taken 2 hr previously)
Intra/Immediate Post: Gatorade + Nitro
Post: Milk/protein + Storm + gatorade

I was thinking about doing a 5/3/1 style workout, but my set of 275 with the squat was solid, but felt drained. Then I hit 225 for 12 reps and felt pumped up, so I loaded the bar with 265, but was fairly tired out at that point.

I felt down on myself, so I asked my wife to critique my squat form. She happily agreed, never being one to let me get sloppy in the gym, and then sent me a video of myself via text, and to my suprise it was pretty good. This temporary ego boost helped me power through the rest of the workout.

Guess this is where you are posting now I am subbed lets do this! Nice work on the killing it! Good to hear your form is on point as well!!

[Appollonian]

Guess this is where you are posting now I am subbed lets do this! Nice work on the killing it! Good to hear your form is on point as well!!

Good to have you on board! My oldest brother always pushed form over weight moved. He would stop me (safely of course) in the middle of a set so I wouldn't hurt myself, get under the weight, and show me how to do it. He would stop his set to do that: that's not the kind of thing you can forget. Of course then we would do cheat barbell curls, but even then we minimized the 'cheat' portion...

[Funky]

Good to have you on board! My oldest brother always pushed form over weight moved. He would stop me (safely of course) in the middle of a set so I wouldn't hurt myself, get under the weight, and show me how to do it. He would stop his set to do that: that's not the kind of thing you can forget. Of course then we would do cheat barbell curls, but even then we minimized the 'cheat' portion...

That's awesome to have him there to help you! Form is important you may be able to "muscle" up lighter weights but heavy ones will hurt you if not taken with good form and respect! I agree form over weight the weight will come!

[Appollonian]

7/19/2011 7:55 PM 50 minute workout bodyweight ~213

Wide Grip Chins: 4 sets 75 reps total (mixed added weight and bodyweight)
Barbell Bench Press: 2 warmup sets 10-40 reps per, 6x225, 5x210, 5x200, 9x185
Superset
Bentover barbell row: 6 sets 12-15
- AND -
Incline Dbell Bench: 4 sets 6-13
- THEN -
Incline Machine Press: 3 set 11-14
Superset
Seated cable row: 4 sets 12-15
Cable flys: 3 sets 10-15
Roman Chair crunches with twist alternating: 4 sets 240 reps total

Pre: Rage + Creatine Mono + M-Stak (stims taken 2 hr previously)
Intra/Immediate Post: Gatorade + Nitro
Post: Milk/protein + Storm + gatorade

I was ill two weeks ago, my workouts last week were very weak and drained, and this week my peak strength is back, but my energy levels still drop quickly. I'm upping my caloric intake a bit and I think in a week or so I'll be back to 100% and pushing it harder.

[Appollonian]

7/20/2011 6:45 PM 20 minute workout, 28 minute run bodyweight ~213

Seated Military Press: 20x45 wu, 10x115, 6x140, 5x150
Superset/
Barbell Shrug: 4 sets 15-20 reps
Lateral Raises: 4 sets 10-12
Rear Raises: 3 sets 15
V-Sit Crunches: 4 sets 160 reps total
/End

Pre: Rage + Creatine Mono + M-Stak (stims taken 2 hr previously)
Intra/Immediate Post: Gatorade + Nitro
Post: Milk/protein + Storm + gatorade

The seated military press for me is tough; it is to me what the squat is for some people I know. For that reason, I am dedicated to bringing it up to a respectable number (with comparison to my other movements).

[Bruiser]

Nice pressing. I've got the oppostie problem most guys have, the military press kills my shoulders but the behind the neck press feels great! I wish I could do standard presses so I could really build the strength like you're showing. Keep it up bro.

[Necromatrix]

Solid work!

Caught up and subbed... Keep killin' it!

[Funky]

Looking good! I thought shoulder press was your week spot? 150x5 is strong bro!

[Appollonian]

Nice pressing. I've got the oppostie problem most guys have, the military press kills my shoulders but the behind the neck press feels great! I wish I could do standard presses so I could really build the strength like you're showing. Keep it up bro.

Yeah, I've got very flexible joints that have a lot of give, but then a pretty abrupt point where they dislocate, and behind the neck presses are the worst for those.

Solid work!

Caught up and subbed... Keep killin' it!

Thanks man! I'm just doing my best and seeing where I can take this.

Looking good! I thought shoulder press was your week spot? 150x5 is strong bro!

Thanks again Funky! I've heard from some people that to aim for 60-75% of your bench is respectable when it comes to seated military press... is this not true?

Either way I realize when I make comments like that, I'm not satisfied with a single one of my lifts, not even close, but that's why I keep pushing, to get better all over.

[Funky]

Yeah, I've got very flexible joints that have a lot of give, but then a pretty abrupt point where they dislocate, and behind the neck presses are the worst for those.



Thanks man! I'm just doing my best and seeing where I can take this.



Thanks again Funky! I've heard from some people that to aim for 60-75% of your bench is respectable when it comes to seated military press... is this not true?

Either way I realize when I make comments like that, I'm not satisfied with a single one of my lifts, not even close, but that's why I keep pushing, to get better all over.

Well if you hit 150x5 your 1RM is gotta be close to ~175 That is strong and 70% of your Bench. I understand I am never happy with my lifts either, I have done massive amounts more in the past and can't get it out of my head! You are looking good to me bro!

[Bruiser]

Yeah, I've got very flexible joints that have a lot of give, but then a pretty abrupt point where they dislocate, and behind the neck presses are the worst for those.

Ouch. Just wait, it gets worse with age...

[Appollonian]

7/21/2011 5:00 AM 25 minute workout, 27 minute run bodyweight ~213

Superset/
Dips: 9 sets (added weight first then bodyweight) 140 reps total (quite a few rest pauses added toward the end)
BB Curls: 9 sets 10-15
/End
Superset/
Tricep Cable Pressdown (V-bar): 4 sets 12-15
Machine Preacher Curl: 4 sets 10-15
Ab bicycle crunches: 2 sets 40 reps total
Roman Chair crunches: 80 reps
/End
Superset/
Barbell Flexor Curls: 3 sets 10-12
Barbell Extensors: 3 sets 10-12
/End

Cardio

Pre: Rage + Creatine Mono + M-Stak
Intra/Immediate Post: Gatorade + Nitro
Post: Milk/protein + Storm + gatorade

Quick and efficient arm session. It's been a long time since I've done straight sets for any muscle group, epsecially arms, but I'm still making gains in strength. It may be time to cut back on the volume and try a different approach soon, but I will evaluate carefully.