ChinPieceDave667's 5x5 journal
 

Ok, it's time to jump on the band wagon and start up the New Year with a 5x5 program.

My goal is to put on about 15-20lbs of muscle in a year, and my work out programs will look like this.

5x5
OVT with DFHT
DFHT
Pendulum

For each cycle I will start a new journal.

This is subject to change if needed and in-between some of the cycles I will cut for 2 weeks with a type of deloading.

I will be posting my routine, which is well known by now anyway, diet and supplements soon.

great

Sorry about the delay guys, work has been hell. I have been training and it's now time to update you on what's going on.

Stats and Diet
 

OK

I'm 6'0", 210.5 lbs with 12% bf using a 7 point site equation with a clapper.

Gained some good muscle despite my injuries and have maintained relatively low to average bf.

I based my diet on lean body mass and I round up to the nearest 5lbs, which puts me at about 185lbs of lean body weight.

For the diet I also will cycle carbs but I will not have a no carb day just because I will be doing more MMA on non-workout days which will require carbs and depending on how intense it is I might have to stay high carbs all week, but that is to be determined.

Now on with the diet.

Cals.
I base my caloric intake on a Basal Metabolism Rate equation which involves weight in kg, height in cm and age in years.
The equation is this:

BMR=66+(13.7*wt in kg)+(5*ht in cm)-(6.8* age)=1943 cals.
Now from here I use a multiplier for my activity level, which goes from 1, which is lazy bum, to 2.4, which is a professional athlete. I'm in the middle so I'll go with 1.5. This is your base amount to eat to maintain weight. I'm bulking so I'm going to increase 250 cals more. This will put me at 3165 cals.
You can find these equations on the web and if you guys want I'll post a link.

For Protein I use my lean body mass and multiply by 1.3 so that leaves me at 240 grams.

For Fat, I am carb sensitive so I want at least 30% fat from my calorie intake so that leaves me at 105 grams of fat.

The rest are Carbs, which leaves me with 313 grams.

Divided up carbs into about 4 meals.
morning 78 grams
pre workout 78 grams
post workout 94 grams
1 hr after pwo 47 grams

The fat in these meals is no higher than 5 grams.
In the other meals carbs are no higher than 10 grams and are only vegs. and the fat is high. mostly extra virgin olive oil, flax oil, fish oils, nuts and avocados.

Non-workout days I drop down carbs to my lean body weight in grams with will be 185 grams.
Protein will be upped so I don't loose muscle mass so it will be 315 grams.
Fat will be .4 of my lean body mass which is about 75 grams, eating the most carbs in the morning and tapering off till it's only Protein and Fat.

Fats are extra virgin olive oil, flax oil, fish oils, eggs, nuts and avocados.

Proteins are chicken, eggs, lean steak, beans, yogurt, cottage cheese, tuna (ever once in a while), salmon and protein shakes (which will be talked about in the supplement part of this post).

Carbs are brown rice, oatmeal, vegetables of all kinds, yogurt, beans, whole wheat cereal and whole wheat bread with the occasional sweet potato.

Supplements
 

In my first cycle.


Supplements:
Nitrix max dosage,
Citrulline Malate
L-Carnitine
Creatine Ethyl Ester
Multi- Vitamin
Vitamin C
Joint Solutions (Clucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM)

Proteins:
BCAA
Optimum Nutrition’s Whey and Casein
Labrada’s Pro V60
Ergopharm’s Mass Meal (high in fat)
HDT’s Pro Blend 55

Fats:
Flax Oil
Fish Oil
Twin Lab’s MCT which are medium chain triglycerides.

This is how I take the supplements.

Workout days:
Morning: 4 caps Nitrix, 3.5gms Citrulline Malate, 500mgs L-Carnitine (empty stomach)
Breakfast: Joint Solutions, Multi-Vitamin
30 mins before lunch: 4 caps of Nitrix, Vitamin C
Lunch: Joint Solutions
30 mins before workout: 4 caps Nitrix, 3.5gms Citrulline Malate, 1gm L-Carnitine, 2 gms CEE (small amount of dextrose)
Right after workout: 2 gms of CEE
Dinner: Joint Solutions

Non-workout days:
Morning: 4 caps Nitrix, 3.5gms Citrulline Malate, 500mgs L-Carnitine (empty stomach)
Breakfast: Joint Solutions, Multi-Vitamin, 2 gms CEE
30 mins before lunch: 4 caps of Nitrix, Vitamin C
Lunch: Joint Solutions
30 mins before Dinner: 4 caps Nitrix, 3.5gms Citrulline Malate, 1gm L-Carnitine, 2 gms of CEE
Dinner: Joint Solutions

Looks like you got your shit together bro, The only observations i have are a few minor ones.

It seems like your using a hell of alot of Citruline Malate, if your having good results with it, then stick to it, but it seems excessive.

how is the L-carnitine working for you? I've been using ALCAR for a while now and its an amazing preworkout stim. Its pretty cheap so when you run out of the regular stuff, maybe you can give it a go.

Otherwise, keep on keepin on bro, i'd say good luck but you dont need it, your on point.

thanks for the look out. All suggestions are invited.

I've ran a similar stack like this but it was Nitrix, CEE and Body Octane and had real good results. The Citruline Malate is in Body Octane and is at the doses I have above, just trying a cheaper stack :o.

The L-carnitine is working well and I can feel everything kicking in now which I will talk about later. I've also used ALCAR and I feel no real difference between the two.. maybe later I will try them back to back and compare.

my routine
 

pretty much cut and paste. Except for MMA. :cool:


Monday:

Olympic Squats 5x5 (same weight)
Benching 5x5 (flat)(same weight)
JS Rows 5x5 (working up to max set) [1x5]
Accessory (Skullcrushers: 3x8-10)

Tuesday:
MMA training for about 2.5-3 hours.


Wednesday:

Front Squats 5x5 (reduced 20% from Monday)
Standing Military Press 5x5 (same weight)
Weighted Pull ups 5x5 (same weight)
Deadlifts 5x5 (same weight)
Accessory (barbell/incline curls: 3x8-10) [Alternating each week]

Thursday:
MMA training for about 2.5-3 hours.

Friday:

Olympic Squats 5x5 (working up to max set) [1x5]
Benching 5x5 (incline)(same weight)
Rows 5x5 (same weight)
Accessory (weighted dips: 3x8-10)

Saturday:
MMA training for about 2 hours or off

Sunday:
MMA training for about 2 hours if I took Saturday off

01/02/2006
 

Monday workout

This is how it went down

Olympic Squats 5x5 @ 275lbs
Flat Benching 5x5 @ 225lbs
JS Rows 5x5 [1x5] 160, 165, 175, 180, 185lbs
Skullcrushers Ez curl bar 10@95, 6@105 (went to failure), 8@95
180 dumbbell Rotate 3x10 @ 10lbs (I'll explain this one)

ABS
Crunches on Ball 3x25
Back Extension Twists 3x20 (each side)

Olympic Squats: Felt real good on this I'm going to go up about 10-15lbs next time to see where I'm at and I know the supplements will kick in by then.

Benching: My wrist felt good on this one but I haven't done heavy bench in so long I have to get use to it. I'm going to try to go up 5lbs next time and see how I feel.

JS Rows: I under shot this a little bit and for good reason. I'm trying to get the form down solid and I think I'm doing it well. I might go up 10lbs next time around.

Skullcrushers: I thought I could handle more than I really could. I'm going to stay at 95lbs or maybe change the exercise to something else, maybe heavy overhead extensions.

180 dumbbell rotate: Ok this is how it is done. Take a dumbbell, stand it up and grab it on the top. Now keep your forearm parallel to the ground, either free standing or laying on a bench. Now let it hang and try to rotate your hand with the DB in your hand to an upright position which is 180 degrees. I'll try to find a pic of it. but it works real well and I'm hoping to better my grip strength.


SUPPLEMENTS
Took them and it was gooood.

DIET
started out good and then I got lazy. missed lunch because of work.:rolleyes:

Hijacking your thread!
 

Journal looks great out of the chute. Very nice A2G numbers starting out! My body's ass backwards: Higher bench than squat :D

I think that after your intensity phase of the 5x5 you should just do either the DFHT program as outlined or the type of upper/lower split I outlined in my UD2.0 journal. It just depends on whether or not you want to keep the dual factor. The split I was doing I designed specifically so that I would not need a deload while doing it. The volume was half that of the DFHT.

From my previous cycle with both programs, I'll tell you that going from (1x3), (3x3) in the intensity phase to (4x10) was absolutely brutal! I was in the mindset of using tons of weight as per my 5x5 for the DFHT starting out. My problem wasn't strength, but rather my muscle conditioning. My neural efficiency increased of course, but I wasn't at all ready for 10-12 reps! So, being a bit wiser now, I'll save you all the mid-set puking and tell you to try the DFHT for 1-2 weeks loading, then a deload. If you feel like it's beneficial and working for you, then go for another 2-3 weeks loading..And go from there. If you don't like it, then after the first deload you could always either drop some of it's volume where you see fit, OR, try something like I did which has just enough volume to where you wouldn't need a deload week.

However, I think it's a good idea transitioning from 5x5 -> DFHT -> Pendulum training. The DFHT will most assuredly have your fitness level increase enough with it's very intense volume to where the first week of pendulum training with it's 10-15 reps runs much smoother.

I'm personally leaning towards trying the HST I outlined for my brother after this 5x5. I forgot how much I love full body splits as well as hitting the gym only three days a week. If I use the twice a week deload, I probably won't need a very long SD, especially if I've been confined to the 5 rep range for so long. If it works for me, I'll be sure to pass it along to you so that you'll have enough time to make a decision at the fork in the road.

Good luck with this...I'll be lurking in the shadows. ;)