BP Run Take One...

Unfiltered Tips & Techniques centered around Blueprint Training
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dracotdrgn
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BP Run Take One...

Post by dracotdrgn »

I've been researching and taking some time off for a few days before I begin. I've been on a gaining phase trying to get up to 230lb before I started the BP but will start anyway at 227. My gyms bf scale doesn't work right so I can't give that out right now. I am an intense lifter, leaving the gym soaked with sweat five days a week. More to come.....
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askmass
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Post by askmass »

Welcome to the forums.
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Great intro man and welcome aboard. I'm here to support you so by all means.... fire away with any questions!
dracotdrgn
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Post by dracotdrgn »

Thanks for the welcome guys. I have eaten well today, no Mass Pro but I had a T-bone for lunch and egg- salad on wheat for dinner and a lot of milk. Starting the famine diet and work out tomorrow.
Question:
Feast phase: Will I get adequate amino acids from 3-4 servings of Mass Pro or should I still get Mass Pro Amino?
dracotdrgn
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Post by dracotdrgn »

Typical Breakfast: Two packets of Oatmeal with 2tbs Wheat germ, 2tbs Adams Peanut butter, sometimes add half scoop of choc protein mix, and coffee with protein added.

One hour before wo one yogurt one apple.

Typical post workout meal during my gaining phase. Includes post wo supplements and two scoops of MVP in juice.
1562 Calories 40g of fat 150g of Carbs 148g of Protein
Bread, meat, cheese, 3 whole eggs, 3/4c egg sub.

Afternoon snack and dinner vary not typical.
When I get bored of oatmeal i eat grits toast and eggs then change lunch to tuna or ham. When I'm really sick of hot breakfast I eat two bowls of frosted shredded wheat.
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Solid plan.

You'll get plenty of aminos in the Masspro at 3-4 servings/day. In fact, a portion of MassPro is hydrolyzed down to the VERY efficient di-tri peptide level with added glutamine/taurine if I'm not mistaken.

The one area where MassPro amino may prove beneficial is intra-workout. As per Blueprint recommendations, use during this time will really accelerate recovery from that workout, allowing you to workout much sooner than without. So if picking a loading pattern that has you training every other day, look into this. In the event you're younger and recovery quickly anyway, you may be able to get by without them.

Lucky you!
dracotdrgn
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Post by dracotdrgn »

I'm not young by all means but not that old either. I'm 34 and train hard enough I usually have one sore muscle group at any given time. The worst is legs, I punish them on Tues. and can still feel soreness on Friday. Nothing alarming, that is on my once a week plan and I am usually strong by next rotation.
dracotdrgn
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Post by dracotdrgn »

Day One Woke up and had a 16oz smoothy made from oj, rasberries, blueberries, and marionberries, and 12oz of half caf coffee black.
Went to gym and started famine wo 1.
Heavy flat bench, incline, decline, weighted dips, skull crushers, rope push downs, military press, dumbell fly, and cable leaning lateral raise. All heavy all 3 sets all 3-5 reps.
Three minutes between sets seemed long while I was eagerly waiting to lift. Felt strong though and at this time no hunger pains.
Post wo meal
3 stuffed grape leaves. (Available at Costco stuffed with wild rice, tomatoes, and peppers) 1 apple, 1 multi-vitamin, and 15 baby carrots. Still feeling ok at this point.
Afternoon snack two hand fulls of walnuts, 20 oz of low sodium V-8.
Go to parent teacher meeting where I had to choke back V-8 burps while talking to teachers. I'll bet that smelled nice!! Come home not feeling well, headache, stomach ache, ate a few pecans while making dinner.
Tossed salad(I had to put a little dressing, 1tbs) whole grain pasta(yuck) with olive oil and pasta seasoning, corn on the cob(plain), and water. Took single asprin while starting to eat to hopefully sub-due headache. Five minutes into dinner had to be excused to violently throw up, everything. Came back to dinner table wife had warmed up pasta sauce to mask pasta flavor. I finished eating not feeling as hungry as I thought. Had to lie down, slept for 45 min.
Feeling better just a little headache and wondering if I can take four more days. It could have been the V-8, or the asprin, or I just pissed off my body because it's used to being well fed as I did just come off of a gaining phase. Or D, all the above. I'm a trooper and will see what tomorrow brings.
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Good deal and I appreciate you sticking with it.

Typically, you don't notice the depletion until the 3rd day of famine. Completely natural what you're describing insofar as the workout/rest periods/wanting to go etc.. That'll change, trust me:)

Play it by ear on the sickness thing. We don't want to set you up for a bad run so hopefully it was a 24hr thing. Keep us posted on how it goes day to day.

Appreciate your input. May I ask what you have planned for loading patterns, supplements etc.?
dracotdrgn
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Post by dracotdrgn »

The sickness was bad, five times in twelve hours. I believe I got into a bad batch of V-8 or just picked something up. Either way my stomach and body are flushed and the only thing I ate off of the plan was a thing of yogurt this am to sooth the stomach. The rest of the day was broccoli, orange, apple, grapes, brown rice with salsa, corn, salad and popcorn.
No work out today because I was recouping from the pukes. I will resume famine and wo tomorrow and will extend it a day if needed.
dracotdrgn
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Post by dracotdrgn »

The workout I am looking into is the powerbuilding bench routine listed. On the split I will not take tuesday off I want to run and do abs. I used to run a lot but when I'm trying to gain weight I stop. I would like to keep it low to 2 or three miles depending on how it affects my weight. I also have started doing abs like every other muscle group, hard, heavy, and once a week. A good ab w-o can take me 45 min or more using the curl, twist, and bend routine. A Tues. run will leave my legs strong for Sat leg day. I will amp up that a lot and incorperate the 20 rep squats. Like I had mentioned on that specific forum, Some muscle groups will need more but I'll see as it comes and would like to hear your input as well.

Supplements:
Protein in the AM post wo afternoon/evening
Kre-Anabolyn 3 per day
Pre wo NO Shotgun by VPX
Post wo NO Synthesize by VPX
Post wo Multi-vitamin
Adaptogen 3 before bed

Protein is mostly Mass Pro, I do use a tri-mix from EAS mostly in the morning and night because of the casein.
I recently received a bottle of Anadraulic State from LG Science so that will replace the NO Shotgun for a while.
I use these for the creatine, arginine, glutamine, beta alanine, you know the stuff, the VPX stuff even adds a little bonus protein.
I've been off and on pro-hormones from LG and Advance Muscle Science. I see some good and question the rest, I have no plan to go back soon.
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RobRegish
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Post by RobRegish »

Wow. That does sound like a bad batch of something for sure... Hope its resolved itself.

Now, on to your plan. Pretty ambitious! The Power Building bench routine plus 20 rep squats plus running is going to put maximum strain on your recovery ability, but you know you better than I do. Here are my recommendations:

Take precautions to make the famine to feast transition easy. You're off to a rough start and I don't want you to deplete yourself too badly. If you get to day 3 or 4 and feel like it's gone too far... cut it short and start the feast. Remember, we're just trying to activate the body's anti-catabolic machinery without incurring significant muscle loss. If you think you've already done that, by all means heed those signs and begin the feast.

You sound like a bulking machine (near and dear to my heart). If so, that bodes well for an easy transition. Take those first 3 days of feast to eat well, sleep well and re-invigorate your mental/physical energies. Given what you have planned, you'll need them!

The bench program is terrific, but I do have two suggestions: Base it off of a 1 rep max that 10lbs UNDER your true 1RM and cut it to 3 sets vs. the 4-5 sets they recommend. My suggested starting point ensures you'll start strong and the program allows you to make up for it during workouts 5,7,9 and 11 where you can jump ahead. Psychologically, this is much better than having to drop back.

With regard to cutting the volume to 3 sets, I've done this many times (as have others) and it delivers the same strength increase without the added drag on your recovery.

On the frequency: given its a 14 workout template, you'll aim to complete it in a maximum of 6 weeks. That's a bit outside of BP guidelines but do-able.

Assuming 3 days of non-training to start Feast, a test day and an every other day workout protocol you can do it in a little over 4 weeks. However, I'd suggest listenting to your body and inserting an extra rest day where appropriate. For example, I usually eat/sleep for 3 days, test my 1RM, take a day or two and begin the program. I train every other day for workouts 1-4, to to a 1 on 2 off format prior to the test days and generally continue with that for the remainder of the program. That takes it out to about 6 weeks but it's how my body works. Your mileage may differ.

The ONE aspect of this program to watch out for is this: the 90% of 1RM stuff starts during workout #2 and doesn't really let up for the rest of the program. Meaning, if you've been working in the 90th percentile in the past 3 weeks it could be problematic. Time will tell. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just be aware as you arrange your programs going forward. As an example, the Soviet Strength Program keeps you in the 80th percentile only for the first 9 workouts/3 weeks. Again, not to worry. As I proved during my last BP run, there are ways of changing gears and still making GREAT progress.

I'd be careful about that much ab work while squatting. Weakening the abs can result in a lower back injury while squatting. Again though, you know yourself better than I do. Proceed accordingly. If so inclined, I'd look into hip belt squats or something similar. If those 20 rep sets take too much out of you physically/psychologically, consider putting your leg training into maintenance mode or switch to a less demanding set/rep format.

Ditto on the running. Play it by ear. If you find its cutting into your strength too much, consider a dragging sled to keep the cardiovascular system in shape. Does so without burning any muscle and complements the weights far better than running, IMO. Props though, on keeping the heart/lungs in shape. Way overlooked, especially when aiming to gain weight.

Finally, that looks like a very solid supplement plan. KA at 3x/day dosing will do you right, especially the new version 4.0 formula. Ditto on the Adaptogen N. My feelings on MassPro are well known. Simply the best you can put into your body. Tri-Mix from EAS should help round things out. NO Shotgun/Synthesize I haven't used. They look pretty solid although I get a real kick out of their hyperbole/proprietary names. I was shocked to see Dr. Jose' Antonio is now their CEO of sorts. Wow. Talk about an about face. He used to be an independent voice doing research out there at Iowa State, I think!

Not familiar with Anadraulic State but I checked out the ingredients. Some good, some bad. I'm not convinced a true pSARM exists yet. I see they use Osthole. I'm open minded but think we'd have heard about it by now if anything dramatic was happening. The anti-E properties are likely beneficial, as are the creatines/amino etc..

Anyway, you have an aggressive plan but..... you've also given a lot of thought to supporting it with high quality protein, aminos, adaptogens and the like. Focus on the basics first (calories, protein etc.) and the rest will fall in line.

Keep us posted. We're here to help!
dracotdrgn
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Post by dracotdrgn »

I am here to listen. If you think that sounds a bit much I can back off to start. My leg routine has been pretty hard lately. Early on it was mostly leg sled but I got so strong I wanted to see how my squats were. Due to an iffy lower back when I was young and a torn achillies, the sled seemed safer. This year is the first time I've routinely done squats and even jump squats.
I can put something together to lighten the legs, cut back the distance of running, or even bike. That squat belt is cool!!!
Abs..... I've only been doing this hardcore routine for about four weeks. I could back off a few sets, do heavy on tues, and light fitness ball type excercises at the end of leg day.
I know this routine is extreme and that's why he has written in light legs and light shoulders so I'll get a feel for it. Honestly I wanted to ad a couple of sets to the shoulders too. Yes, I am a bulker that likes to push myself, I am too stubborn at times to think I might be over training. I have had a great year and a decent 3 months of gains so its hard to back off.
dracotdrgn
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Location: Tacoma, Washington

Post by dracotdrgn »

Day Three
Same smoothie I had day one
Gym routine 2, 2 excersises per muscle, 6-8 reps, 4sets, but went 2 min between sets
Legs were still strong got a little tingley after last set but still felt fine for back and bis
Ran 1/2 mile@7mph first 1/4m 5% uphill second 1/4m flat
Vascularity was hard to keep, pump would come, pump would go!
Tri's are sore from day one, core is sore from heaving.
Two bowls of brown rice and salsa after work out
1 orange 1 apple
Salad with cucumber, tomoato, broccoli, cauliflower, 1tbs dress, lemon juice and pepper
12oz tomato juice (not the V-8 this time)
air popped pop corn
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