mukey's body transformation challenge

**mukey** · August 1st, 2009, 08:15 PM

So I'm starting my strength gaining phase tomorrow and I'm trying to work out all the planning and I thought I would just keep a little log of my progress here. I'd love for some of you guys to critique my routine and give me some pointers along the way while I'm doing this. Just to sort of fill yall in on my preparation up to this point, I started seriously trying to cut towards the end of May. It started out kind of slow as I had trouble with my discipline in eating but I slowly came around. The month of July I actually tried being a vegetarian, I know that isn't the greatest idea for muscle building, but it was more of an exercise in self-discipline and control because I was thinking about trying out the velocity diet down the line, and I knew I would need to test myself beforehand. But now it's back to the omnivorous lifestyle for that oh so essential protein. So the results of my cutting phase is I lost 15lbs, I didn't quite get the abs I wanted, but I figure that just has to do with my diet, I had to eat a lot of carbs on my vegetarian challenge. I've basically been eating 1500 calories a day, so I'll be increasing that to fulfill my increased caloric needs. I was thinking about upping to 2000 for the first week, and then 2500 a week later. I know it probably should go higher to bulk up but I might have a hard time jumping right into a 3000+ calorie diet right away. Oh I'm 5'11" and 160lbs at the moment. I don't have my body fat percentage yet, I was hoping to find that out very soon so I can more accurately determine my caloric needs, and I'm going to take measurements of my arms and legs and chest all that good stuff to track my progress. I've got before pictures and will be taking after pictures along the way so I can get a visible representation of my progress. I'll post the ones I have now if yall are interested in seeing how I've come along so far. So anyways on to the gym routine. I'll be working out four days a week, starting with leg day tomorrow. My other days will entail chest and triceps for one, back and biceps for another, and abs and other miscellaneous spots I didn't hit on the other days. I've been doing a ton of cardio, I'll probably scale that back to two or three days a week, and decrease the intensity. I haven't worked out my diet plan yet, I'll post it when I get it all figured out, hopefully soon. Ultimately my goal is to get up to strength I used to be a couple of years ago, I was about 185lbs, and not too much more body fat than I have now, unfortunately I messed up my shoulder and thats why I stopped working out and lost a lot of size and strength. It is going to be a challenge working around my gimpy shoulder, as I'm limited in my chest and back routine, any pointers of exercises in these categories would highly appreciated. Ok, sorry for the long opener, but I'll write in tomorrow with a recount of leg workout and any more information I come up with. Thanks for taking the time to read all this if you actually did, haha!

DEALER · August 1st, 2009, 08:51 PM

Good luck! Interested to see how you make out.

**mukey** · August 2nd, 2009, 09:52 PM

So today I did my leg workout, I wish I had done it later in the day as it totally wiped me out for the rest of the day. My workout is as follows:
Squats - 4 sets x 8 reps, 135lbs
Leg Extensions - 4 sets x 10 reps, 120lbs
Leg Curls - 4 sets x 10 reps, 100lbs
Calf Extensions - 4 sets x 12 reps, 130lbs
I tried to do some light dead lifts, but I was pretty gassed after all the other exercises.
It's kind of depressing to see how far my leg strength has regressed, but I hope to get back to my previous high, just gotta put in the time and effort. If I have time tomorrow I'm going to do my chest/triceps regimen, if not then on Tuesday.

**mukey** · August 2nd, 2009, 09:56 PM

I also figured out my body fat percentage today, it is 11.6%
I look forward to keeping track of this to see how big I can get while keeping this number down. I calculated my daily caloric needs too at roughly 3500kcal, I'll probably have a hard time jumping right into that number, so I'm going to gradually build up to it. I'm not looking forward to my food budget essentially doubling

**tidalwave** · August 2nd, 2009, 10:08 PM

Out of curiosity, which bodyfat testing method did you use?

**mukey** · August 2nd, 2009, 10:11 PM

The machine is called Tanita Body Composition Analyzer, TBF-140. I think the technical name is bioelectrical impedance analysis. I was told the accuracy of it might be a little questionable, but I don't readily have another method of measuring so it will do for the duration.

**tidalwave** · August 2nd, 2009, 10:18 PM

Ah ok, if it's one of those 2000+ USD machines, it's probably pretty good. I have one of the Tanita scales that uses impedance to do bf% readings... these are generally only good for direction of bf, since they are pretty inaccurate, especially for those with a higher percentage of lean tissue. It requests a daily 'activity level' when you configure your profile and the difference between level 1 and level 3 can lead to significantly different readings. For example, mine has been saying I'm at 16.x%, but I'm probably quite a bit lower.

**mukey** · August 2nd, 2009, 10:32 PM

Yeah the one I used I had to put in "athlete" as activity level. I thought my bf% reading was a little high, as I think I look fairly lean, but I've never measured it before so I have no point of reference to look back on. I'll try to post up by current before and after photos some time tomorrow, now it is time for sleeeeeep.

**mukey** · August 3rd, 2009, 11:59 PM

Chest and triceps today.
Bench Press - 4 sets x 8 reps, 135, 145, 155, 165lbs for each set
Skull Crushers - 4 sets x 8 reps, 75lbs
Elevated Push-ups (with my feet elevated on a bench and using dumbbells as hand rests on floor) - 4 sets x 15 reps
Dips - 3 sets x 10 reps, and one set to failure, 20 reps
And now for two much needed days off, as I have gone the past three days in a row. I'll probably do some light cardio still, we'll see.
I'm also having trouble with the eating though, struggled to break 2000 calories, but I'm hoping the increasingly heavy lifting will help fix that.

**Hans_Rachid** · August 5th, 2009, 07:34 PM

Did you mean you struggled to break 3000 Cals? Because if you can't get past 2000 Cals, you'll have a really hard time gaining anything!

Also, if you're able to do 20 dips in a row I suggest you start adding some weight if your shoulder will allow you

**mukey** · August 5th, 2009, 07:41 PM

Yeah, 2000 is right lol. I've encountered more problems in this regard too, as I was unaware that after not eating meat for a month my liver stopped producing the enzyme necessary to digest it. So you could say it has been an interesting few days in the bathroom. Does anyone know of a possible remedy for this other than waiting? As for the calories, I'm so used to my routine for 1500 calories a day that it was just like a reflex to eat the same amount of food, but I'm working on fixing that, even with the meat digestion problem.
I'm also sort of still exploring the weight limits my shoulder will allow me to work with, but how do yall add weight for dips? I don't see any sort of contraption or device that would let me hold weights to my body while doing dips at my gym.

DEALER · August 5th, 2009, 11:29 PM

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1500 calories a day

I eat this amount by noon, LOL, and my gains are slow too. You got to ramp this up for sure, can your guts handle milk? Drink a lot of milk, with every meal.

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I don't see any sort of contraption or device that would let me hold weights to my body while doing dips at my gym.

Look around the floor of your gym, a chain may be laying around. Hook the chain through a weight belt and a "quarter" for starters. Or buy a chain. Or, just clinch a dumbbell between your knees and cross your feet to keep it secure.

Note: I understand you have a bum shoulder, however, on dips you only did 10 reps, when you are capable doing at least 20! My training partner would slap me for this. This is not ideal for getting stronger. IMO, you gotta get in closer to failure on all three sets.

**mukey** · August 7th, 2009, 01:13 AM

Had to cut my workout short today as I had dinner plans, with my ex of all people lol. But anyways, got some ab work done.
Double Crunches (I don't know what to call these, I do a regular crunch but bring my legs up at the same time to hit the top and bottom) - 5 sets x 20 reps
Hanging Leg Lifts - 4 sets x 12 reps
Decline Sit-ups, but hold at parallel for 5 seconds - 5 sets x 5 reps
Oblique Crunches - 3 sets x 10 reps for each side
I would normally do some more abs as wells as some miscellaneous areas I don't hit on any other days, but didn't have the time. And thanks for the tips Dealer. I know I need to add more to pretty much everything I'm doing, but this is my first week to go "heavy" so I did it kind of light. I'll definitely add more to my routines next week.

DEALER · August 7th, 2009, 09:56 AM

Mukey, that is one serious abdominal routine! That would cripple me for sure.

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I know I need to add more to pretty much everything I'm doing, but this is my first week to go "heavy" so I did it kind of light. I'll definitely add more to my routines next week.

Your first week going heavy so you kept it light? LOL... If that's not an oxymoron, I don't know what is. Don't worry too much about "how much" weight you are using, the point is to continually be challenging yourself. On every set. Your initial post talks of a "strength gaining" phase, so it is crucial that you are using weights that you are not necessarily comfortable with. Even if you can only get a few reps, when you come back the following week your body will begin to adapt(IE: get stronger).

I am speaking from experience, I wasted months of training falling into that "comfort zone". I used the same weight's over and over, and of course made no progress. Strength training is all about progress. When I really get serious about getting strong, I amaze myself at how much progress can be made in a short period of time. I have set personal best's in all my lifts over the past week, in some cases drastically increasing the weight used (except for deadlift and squat due to a back injury sustained one year ago...but I am getting close to where I was last year!).

Of course, the welcome side effect of getting stronger: bigger muscles. Keep challenging yourself, you will be surprised at the results.

**mukey** · August 7th, 2009, 02:29 PM

Well I just have to say that everything up to this point has been mostly body resistance exercises, so I wasn't too sure of where to start on the weights. I guess you could call it my week where I see what I'm capable of. I know exactly what you mean when you say to use much higher weights that I'm not necessarily comfortable with, I used to be a pretty buff guy for my size, and I thought I had a pretty good routine going for me. I'd like to reach that level I was at before but be even smarter about lifting, that's why I'm posting here so I can see yall's comments about how to better my routine. I'll be doing back and biceps in a little while, I'll definitely being hitting my biceps hard, but I have to be careful of my shoulder while doing back, so we will see how it goes.

**mukey** · August 7th, 2009, 08:06 PM

So I got my back/bicep workout in today, feel like I had a good one.
Seated Ez Curls - 1 set x 10 reps 65lbs, 3 sets x 8 reps 70lbs
Bent Over Rows - 1 set x 10 reps 45lbs, 3 sets x 8 reps 65lbs
Single Arm Preacher Curls - 1 set x 7 reps 30lbs, 2 sets x 6 reps 35lbs
Lat Pull Downs - 1 set x 10 reps 100lbs, 3 sets x 8 reps 120lbs
Palms facing each other Pull-ups - 3 sets x 10 reps, 1 set x 9 reps (couldn't squeeze that 10th one out)
I also did a 15 minute cool down on the stationary bike. Should I even bother going in and doing some cardio tomorrow? I know I'm supposed to cut back but I will feel lazy if I don't do anything on Saturday.
All those increases in weight were from me imagining Dealer standing over me and calling me girlie man in an Austrian accent. I feel really good about the workout, will increase weight in all my exercises next week. Now for a day off tomorrow, hopefully birthday celebration won't put me out of commission for my leg day on Sunday. Fat chance of that lol!

**mukey** · August 7th, 2009, 08:29 PM

This is my before and after photos so far, first one taken on 5/24 when I decided to quit being a lazy slob, and the most recent one taken on 8/1. I feel pretty satisfied with what I accomplished, notice the belt holding up the shorts in the after photo, even then it was on the last hole and didn't help much!

**tooncesthecat** · August 7th, 2009, 08:51 PM

Very nice improvement from pic 1 to pic 2! Keep up the good work mukey!

DEALER · August 7th, 2009, 10:24 PM

Great progress in less than two months! I would keep doing the cardio, just keep it at a moderate intensity.

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All those increases in weight were from me imagining Dealer standing over me and calling me girlie man in an Austrian accent.

HA! I'm glad I could be of service. Keep up the good work.

**Insex** · August 9th, 2009, 07:41 PM

I can see the abs starting to come out in the second pic, and your waistline looks like it's getting smaller. If your goal is to transform your body, you are certainly getting it done. Keep up the good work.