Bulk Day Fifteen: PRECISION

Oh my. I can't believe it but I hit EXACTLY 72.0 kg today!! Wow. This result is a complete success. And this 15 day blogging was not for nothing. Damn, call it lucky, but I was 99% on planned diet and this 4 kg bulk was all hard work! Woo!!

Now, now now. The big question. Bulk or cut. I don't wanna make it some huge dilemna. I should know myself, I should follow what I feel. It can go either way. My two options are:

1) Cut to 71 kg (-1 kg) for leanness and vascularity.
Pros: More ripped, more aesthetic, obviously
Cons: Might lose hard earned arm size/muscle.

2) Continue Bulk to 74 kg (+2 kg) for bigger mass
Pros: Increase overall size, easier for cut later
Cons: Look bulky/fat, not so aesthetic (temporary)

Obviously for the long term it's good to go for option 2. But I've only a few weeks before school reopen. I think I want to look better when school reopen first, then bulk later. Maybe do a compromise? Ok, I'll probably continue this diet, meaning no changes, but may take note of fats now (since I didn't care about fats that much on 15 day bulk). But I think I'll up to two interval cardio sessions per week, PLUS abs training every day. Plus I'll totally (if possible) eliminate sweet drinks. Ie no crap like sweet drink or whatever. Not that I'm drinking a lot now.

Indeed, I now look kinda on the bulky side. The difference is quite obvious. Comparing now to when I was 65 kg it's quite obvious. A bit not used to this look, but just do it for the bigger picture.

Hmm, I'm not scared to bulk more in fact, considering how big my peers are. I need to be stronger than them. I need also, to be more aesthetic. That's the problem, they don't know how to be aesthetic. It ain't just doing 100 crunches every day, it's your body fat. And how is body fat controlled? HIIT + nutrition. I'm way ahead of them on this aspect. So yes, I'll aim 71 kg cut (max bulk limit 73 kg) right now.

Anyway, very good result today. Very happy with the 15 day bulk SUCCESS. Time for every greater things!

Strength standard after 15 day bulk (kg):
DL: 95 x2
Squats: 70 x5
Bench Press: 55 x8
Bent over rows: 55 x5
Seated Military Press: 40 x5
Chin up: 10
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DB curl: 10 each side

Ok so my biggest weaknesses now is my bench press and  bicep curls of course. Argh, F them genetics but I'll just have to train hard.

6 months later, when I look back on this post (you will smile when you read this, like always) will I drop to fatty or will I improve much more?? Hopefully the latter.

As I say again, I am very satisfied with the 15 day bulk, it was a big success, it was PERFECTION. 72 kg on the spot. Wow, I can't emphasize enough. Time for greater things YEA.

Protein intake: 240.9g

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Bulk Day Fourteen: OVERCOME

Shit is always gonna happen and people will always somehow ruin your plans either on purpose or inadvertently but you just have to be strong willed and carry on what your supposed to do.

Seems like I'm back to very slow progress again. After the sudden breakthrough (few days ago), I am beginning to find it annoying that I'm not gaining much. I also have a feeling that I've lost weight. Who knows. But whatever it is tomorrow is a confirm cardio day because I need to lose some fats.

Chin up work out just now. Quite disappointing, 9 overhand and 5 underhand. I am still not there yet. Muscle fatigue is not an excuse. By the end of the month I should hit 10 clean (overhand) and 8 (underhand).

Quite tempted to gym today but never mind. Better be at 100% tomorrow since it's gonna be a hard back day. Yea. It's tomorrow again, back day! But now I'm careful about going too heavy on DL. Seriously fear injury. I'll continue the low rep heavy weight routine. But tomorrow instead of 5x5 we will do 10 8 6 4 2 pyramid. I'm really scared of injury for last two heaviest lifts so making it a pyramid makes it safer. After all it's what 8X Mr Olympia Ronnie Coleman does.

Will also focus on chest tomorrow. I will do chest every workout. I want some gains there.

For now, the priority is: BICEP>CHEST>DELTS>TRAPS>LATS>ABS. Since I'm genetically superior in tris, I will only do a superset for it tomorrow. Biceps, I will keep pumping every night. Same as chest, will push up every night. But push ups is not the main work out for hypertrophy. It's the chest presses. Must focus on incline more and my form also.

Ok, will proceed with arms workout now, then bath and SLLLEEP.

Protein intake: 243.2g

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Bulk Day Thirteen: PUMPED

I've just finished ANNNOTHER arms workout. This is what I do on alt nights at home: 30 mins, bb burl 3 set, bis curl 3 set, push up 120, tris 3 sets. BB/DB replaced with heavy-ass bags. All done with very little rest time, accompanied by loud music. Totally effective, my arms totally have the feeling of exploding after the work out. The PUMP!

I'm really curious what my weight is now. It's hovering around 71 - 72 but I gotta be sure. Did I drop, did I gain?? Guess I'll only know for sure come Friday. Since I'll have spotter on Fri, tml gym is postponed to Fri. So probably will do another chin up/dips session below my house.

When I wear some of my old shirts now, eg Istana shirt, I can feel the arms taking up more space. It's giving me the tight feeling now, especially so after a fierce arm work out. It ain't no illusion, it's real. I can tell the difference. And this is just the beginning...

Just tomorrow and Friday to conclude this fifteen day epic bulk. Had my doubts as to whether I can focus and not get distracted throughout the duration but I'm really glad I manage to keep discipline and motivated.

Ah...another day of good diet plus workout. One more step to my goals!

Protein intake: 244.7g

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Bulk Day Twelve: PROPORTIONS

Since the last time I was critique on tric>delt I've been more self-conscious about proportions. Now that I see closely and from different angles my delts is really quite small and looks like it can't hold my arms. Then the upper part of my biceps is so weird, like it's flat. Wth. Maybe I'm thinking too much but I'm so gonna focus on biceps now because I want the swollen mountain look instead of flat.

Today marked the first time I hit the gym alone in a few weeks. Went to JE instead of pioneer simply because I wanted the privacy. Moreover JE gym had all the facilites I needed for my workout today. In the end turned out great, tough I didn't dare to push heavy, I focused on endurance (ie more reps) for the definition. Lats/chest/biceps all worked to 90% today. Good session.

After which I was anticipating a very good MONDAY NIGHT RAW, but once I saw that Jericho wasn't gonna speak for the second week in a row I was super turned off. However other parts of the show made it overall quite enjoyable and funny too, esp with R-truth segment and brodus clay's Funkasaurus debut. Damn it, how long can I be patient for something to happen?? Jericho NEEDS to either have a match/interfere/SPEAK next week, or I will really lose all interest in his it-begins gimmick already.

Lol why am I talking about WWE?

Anyway restocked today. My bank account is on the verge of falling below $**** and those shit agents still ain't calling me back. WTH. I've been duped 3, 4 times already since I started finding a job. Screw them all, I have the experience and two years back I was being hired like nobody's business. It's ok, I can survive not working, who wants to work for puny ass money anyway.

Ok, three more days to end of this epic bulk!!! Can't wait to see my final weight. Made a rookie xin jiao mistake of forgetting to take my weight today. Zzz. I'm guessing 71.5kg and below 72. We will see in three days. Hopefully hit 72 perfectly, which I'm confident of.

Ok, gotta go take a huge DUMP . . . !!

protein intake: 263.3 (may be more, oh  yea)

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Bulk Day Eleven: SILENCE

Woah, it's day ELEVEN already?! I think I should blog every time I set a new target because it just makes time pass so quickly.

Another boring day at home. Boring ie online most of the time and no social contact. But I did what I was supposed to do today, and that was to eat right and do my pull ups. Right now I am back to 10 clean overhands, but I needed to put in max effort. I have to train more so that I can really do 10 perfect, clean pull ups with less than 100%. For pull ups it's better to do perfect ones than to struggle and cheat yourself.

Was kind of lacking in food today. My chicken had only 6 pcs left, and I didn't have anything else to replace. Hesitated a while but decided to head to Sheng Siong to get some cheap tuna. It's better than buying another meal, like YTF or rice which is incomparable to the amount of protein/price a can of tuna gives.

I think I'll have to start taking off the shirt and taking progress shots. But I think my stomach is still quite fat. Actually, not really. Just not as cut as when I was 60~kg. I think I can really see the gains now, while flexing today. More, more, more!!!

Today I titled it 'Silence' because all my hard work is being done at home, and at the gym, most of the time alone or with one or two buddies only. They don't see my progress yet. In silence I am training my butt off, motivated, and I would LOVE it when people whom I've not met for a long time see my changes. It's not enough yet. I will get stronger and I will do it. It's not easy, they will be miring and it will all be worth it.

Ok, tomorrow, my special day again, Gym in the morning, MONDAY NIGHT RAW after that, (please Y2J turn heel and SPEAK) oh can't wait.

protein intake: 235.6g

QOTD: The workout can't be compromised.

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Bulk Day Ten: INSATIABLE

Finally, finally today when I went to the gym I saw some concrete improvement in my overall mass! I don't know why, seems like everything finally clicked! All my efforts until have not been wasted at all. Just after 1month18days I have become bigger and my strength have increased. Yea...

But still, this is no where near my goal. It's a HUGE stepping stone though, but ain't no way the Lab gonna stand on his laurels. I've gotta keep giving myself new targets and new challenges like these to keep on improving, no matter the circumstances or context. I don't wanna go in uni, and really downward spiral like how everyone around me predicts I will. I will find a way to squeeze in STUDY, play AND GYM. It will be tiring but I'd rather be busy than slack anymore. I have rotted for 2 years in army, the time for my engine to go full throttle has started.

Gym today was short and sweet. A/shoulders/trics. I think I will hit supersets for arms from now onwards, seem like the best method to really kill em'. Maintained my DL weight of 77.5 kg. I can handle it but it's tough. Need to take it slow, if I increase weight every alt session for the sake of pride, I will fall to the hands of injury sooner and more abruptly than I know. Also I need to focus on isolating delts and biceps. I don't want to look uneven.

Hmm, checked weight and increased again. Seriously I really gain weight DAMN quickly. But it's mostly good lean gains. Now 71.7 kg. Soon to be 72 kg soon. Then I think I'll cut/cardio to 71.5 or 71. After that bulk again. I think I'll focus on definition and vascularity now. I'm not one of those guys with mass but no definition, that's so ugly.

Today's diet, quite standard, cai png, bread, egg, chicken breast. Good, keep it up.

Oh it's Sunday alr? 2 more weeks to school start!! Tml monday, rest/chin ups day. Wow the hard earned gains has given me a lot of confident boost, let's put in max effort until school starts!

protein intake: 242.5g

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Bulk Day Nine: BUFFET

Woah almost forget to blog today. No gym today, postponed to tomorrow. Today full of epic eating was done!

Went to buffet town @ raffles city for lunch. It was gonna be some epic meat intake from the get go. The variety was not bad. Lots of meat, chicken, fish, pork, beef, I liked. Tried to choose as little carbs as possible and I think I succeeded. Didn't take all e junk (ice cream, cake, dessert) either which is good. Lots of MEAT, chicken (skin removed of course), dory fish, beef (which sucked), satay, some sweet potato, some spaghetti, and a lot more stuff I can't remember. But lots of chicken and fish woo yea. Epic bulk deserves an EPIC MEAL TIME!

After which cooked more chicken breast at home, plus more chicken for dinner. Mmmm, good ol' chicken.

I can't accurately judge how much protein was inside all the stuff I ate, I'm guessing (70-100). YEA. epic.

Ok, time to go bye!

Protein intake: ~229.7g ??

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Bulk Day Eight: HABIT

Freaking shag now. Just completed some push ups and curls randomly. I think if I want big arms I don't need to shun away from curling, just that I cannot emphasize on it. In other words I must do compound (priority) plus curl a lot (ie be a curlbro).

So, habit. I gotta make all these a habit in order to succeed. Things like waking up 6am in the morning for first meal. Or cooking myself. Or doing push up when I don't want to.

So today was basically one of days horrific days where everything went wrong. So I don't really want to post anything.

My diet is still ok, but I do feel a bit guilty eating fried rice for my carbs just now. A cardio session is in order come Sunday.

Ok, I'm bloated, my arms are crying, I'm tired and my hair is shiet.

Protein intake: ~233g ??

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Bulk Day Seven: PROGRESS

Ok it's day 7 already. Another week has gone by and my weight has increased again. Is it too fast? Currently 71 kg. No, I'm not binging and fattening myself up my diet has been quite strict and ain't no way, no chance I'll binge back to 'fat' mode. The growth is all on the upper body.

Gym session as usual, good workout, pushed biceps hard today. I can't believe I'm being scrutinized for forearm bigger than deltoid =.= but now that I think of it it's really kinda weird and I have to start isolating the delts before I turn into grovyle =.=.

Oh, yea THURSDAY is a wonderful day to go gym! Good music, good 'scenery', no kids/arrogant people, lesser people than usual. As I said my weight taken this morning after gym was 71.1kg already. It's good progress since one month 15 days ago when I started. According to general belief it's only safe/normal to gain 2-3 lbs/month. So calculating for me, 4.5 lbs/1.5 months should be normal for me. My weight gain is probably (71-68=3kg) which is slightly over the norm but not too much. But like what I posted before just hit 72 kg, evaluate my strengths/look/gain, then see if to shred the fat or to bulk more (probably bulk more). My limit is 76 kg, because for my height (1.74cm) the normal weight should be 68-76 kg.

Current lifting stats:
Bench press: 47.5kg/5 rep
DL: 77.5kg/5 rep
Squats: 57.5kg/5 rep

According to strength standards I so at the 'untrained' level, WTH. But I understand it takes year of training to increase your strength. I've only done this for 1.5 months. So we will come back 6 months later and see where my standards are again.

Ate a lot today again, more than yesterday. Tried cooking fish, turned out better than expected BUT still tasted like shiet. Not viable for the long term. Haix. Looks like I'll be sticking to chicken for a while.

Protein intake: 250.7

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Bulk Day Six: STUFFED

Argh!! It's so difficult to eat so much!! Everyday lots of milk, lots of tofu and lots of MEAT. I need so much MEAT. But it's tough to eat so much. Sometimes, no most of the times when I can't keep on schedules and stuff everything at night, I really feel like vomiting. (Like now.)

Sigh...But never mind, in order to achieve this, any hardship is worth it. Rest day today, back really feeling it as usual. Tomorrow will be doing chest/B/biceps and we have to hit it HARD to make up for Saturday's disappointing session.

I Think I'm finally gonna start work, for real? Went for the interview today, and turns out this is just another one of those CNY jobs that is so rampant currently. Was mislead about the freaking pay! It stated $9/hr for 14th and after but when I clarified, they said it will depend, and $9 was if the client wanted to increase it due to festive season and/or performance basis. Which is BULL! I wanted to walk but since the schedule is flexible and $7 is still not the worst, I just stayed. And another bad thing is, I'm sort of lowering myself...inside the interview with me were actually 17 yr old KIDS...like OMG I really felt out of place. Yes I knew initially 16 yr old and above was eligible but I was interested anyway because of the $9/hr, but without it...I'm definitely shortchanging the hell out of myself, given my experience in temp promoter jobs. Which is quite extensive, might I add. It's ok, just do it, $400, GTFO, start school, SIM, study. We are only doing this to make sure my bank a/c doesn't drop below $****. My hard saved cash from being a CHAO NSF cannot be anyhow spent, no matter what people say!!

Alright, I've reached my blogging capacity again (LOL) and I might have to stop now. Tomorrow Gym, Friday work (possibly), Sat finally hanging out with friends.

Protein intake: 246.2g approx.

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Bulk Day Five: IMPROVEMENT

Hi blog I'm finally here for today's post..

So today had a great Gym session, working the back/shoulders/tris. Managed to once again, Improve my DL (now @ 77.5kg/5 reps). Also, switched from seated shoulder press to seated military press today, and it was much tougher. Could only go max @ 9kg each side, which shows how weak my shoulders are. Thats why it's so tough, so many different body parts to train, no wonder it's called 'bodyBUILDing". In the case of cutting, you only need to care about losing on thing and that's fats but for this, zzzzzz is all I can say. Also, the superset of close grip bench press+lying triceps extensions was very very effective, because I was working both aerobic and anaerobic sides.

Diet on track also, but it swear there's quite a bit of fats in also. It's ok, what I'm aiming for is size now. By the way I'm 70.5 kg now, which is seriously a bit faster than expected and not that good actually. The extra weight might be more of fats instead of lean mass, I'm not sure. In any case, the aim now is still 72kg, after which we will evaluate again and change from there. MYFS if you're reading, please eat something now. Your current aim is 60kg when are you gonna show me you've hit it?? 


Will my schedule be screwed up due to work? Because if I'm starting work soon (applied for a few just now) I may have to sacrifice gym timing... But since I already made a tough decision (and another risky + potentially foolish one) to choose that job that only burns my weekends, instead of the one until 22 Jan, I guess my sessions won't be interrupted. Of course, hopefully I get the job tomorrow. Oh my, the difference between the two jobs are HUGE, as I was calculating just now. Basically it was a case of $$$+sacrifice gym+time VS less $$$+GYM. And I was deeply considering because it was $1000+ vs $400+, HUGE difference. But if I get the less paying job, it would be mission successful because I can still gym on schedule which is the main priority now. 


Ok, such a long post. For current standards anyway. I'm becoming lazier and lazier to blog. Please keep this up, ALREADY 5/15 days completed!!!

Protein intake: 243.8g

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Bulk Day Four: STAGNANT

Ah, it's day four already. I guess I started at a good timing, since time is just flying by so quickly.

It's been an extremely uneventful few days, but I'm glad I've been able to keep my diet strong.

Today was a good example of eating everything on time and eating the right stuff. Eggs, bread, YTF, chicken (loads of chicken), rice, soy, whey.

Decided against gym today since I knew I was going to be half hearted if I went. Tuesday would be a better day instead; gym in the morning and MONDAY NIGHT RAW (WITH 2/1/2012 MYSTERY REVEALED TML OMG) after that! Just the way I like it.

Sometimes, when I look at the mirror and yea, there's a bit of progress but I'm still so far away from my goals (STILL so damn skinny!!). It's terribly difficult to bulk up cleanly. It's way more difficult than cutting for sure. I can definitely vouch that this phase is much more difficult than "ST65". It's so demoralizing but every now and then I will have visions of all the haters and all those idiots who think I'm a joke. Yea, it gets my mind back into the game immediately and keeps me going.

Anyway my body is well rested since last Thur's A SS workout and tomorrow I am SO READY to do 77.5kg DL!! Breaking personal bests every week is gooood!!

Ok, that's all for today.

Total protein: 230.3g

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Bulk Day Three: CONSISTENCY

First Day of 2012!

It's gonna be my year YES!!

Anyway, today is obviously a Sunday but I keep thinking it's Monday already. Can't wait for the kids to go back to school already!!

Nothing much going on at all today, which makes it all the harder to motivate myself. But I have the time and I'm not gonna waste it so I'm keeping my diet on schedule.

Realised a stall @ Teban Gardens had exactly what I wanted: Chicken breast rice (PLAIN RICE) with duck rice soup (weird) and most importantly, CHEAP.

Argh, we will see if tonight I've anything else to add other than protein intake. Gym Day Tml!

Update:
Protein intake:193g

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