2 month lean bulk with og PES Erase & X-Factor Adv

[qes]

Hi, new here, thought I'd do a log to keep track of my progress specifically with the stack I'm going to try. I've been bulking for about 8 weeks at 1lb/week and plan to continue for another 8 weeks or so at the same or slightly higher rate with Erase and X-Factor.

I really don't expect a lot from supplements but I haven't lifted long enough and have too high bf % to consider gear yet and I'm impatient, so I thought I'd try a couple things - if it adds 5% over my results without that would be ok (not that one could even tell if it did I suppose) but I'm working hard may as well maximize my efforts.

Went back and forth a lot and decided on PES Erase and ArA. Mid-teens bf%, love handles, had a kid a couple years ago, and I tear up at disney movies now, plus I lack sleep - so I figured something to lower estrogen and maybe cortisol would be useful. Erase gets a lot of love, and the guy who runs examine .com personally likes it. ArA seems like it could have some legit benefit, too. AnaBeta sounds good.. but $ was starting to get high and I'm not convinced. Forskolin I think has potential but I'm hoping there's more information on it in time. DAA didn't seem worth the hassle, even though it's cheap.

A little history. I'm 33yo 6'0" currently 191.5 lbs. I played sports as a kid and was in fair shape but never lifted that much, did stuff on machines but no program and various cardio. Was never above 195 lbs, usually about 185, until 2008. I stopped exercising and gradually began to eat more until I hit 237 in early 2013.

Finally got way sick of that and started changing diet, mostly cutting out sweets, juice, pop. Lots of crap. Worked on not binging. I tracked here and there on MFP to get my bearings and gradually reduced my calories over time. Had a few significant slips in there that lasted a couple/few weeks. For exercise I was mostly doing cardio - elliptical, and a bit of bodyweight stuff - push ups, pull ups, dips, planks. I wasn't doing any program but by the end I was doing like 10+ pushups on handles +50lbs, 10 dips +20 lbs, 6-8 chin ups +20 lbs, 4-6 bw pull ups, 2+min planks +50 lbs. This was after a year and I had lost exactly 50 lbs (187). Here's a comparison pic of the last 6 months of that:

I wasn't tracking food that well during my cut but I started tracking everything and found I was at about 2200 calories and low on protein. Got the protein up and stayed at 2200 and started a modified StrongLifts program on May 18th.

Started SL at:

• 70kg squat
• 70kg bench
• 40kg row
• 40kg ohp
• 90kg deadlift

I could only keep the deficit for a few weeks. I wanted to cut lower but it was impeding my progress on SL and I felt I didn't have much muscle to cut down to anyway. Went up to 2400 kcal on June 5, 2600 on June 19 - this marks the start of my bulk and 183 was the lowest weight I hit, 2700 on June 26, 2800 July 19, starting to push up towards 2900 now. I always get 180-220g of protein. My fat could be a bit lower, it's like 80-100g. I could eat more veggies but I don't do too bad. Lots of fish, chicken, quinoa, potatoes, mixed veg, salads, broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts, eggs, greek yogurt, etc and I eat a handful of meals with balanced macros throughout the day. But I will eat ice cream to make calories

I log my weight daily in a spreadsheet that calculates moving weighted averages, forecast, and trend weight. I follow the trend weight and have been gaining just about 1 lb per week. Now, if I don't eat at least 2700 calories the scale's dipping in a day or two.

Here's my current routine, modified StrongLifts so alternating A/B days, try for 3x a week but sometimes get an extra off day in there:

A day

• 5x5 squat (low bar) - 105kg, 4-5 min rest
• 5x5 flat bench - 97.5kg, 3-4 min rest (+5 slow tempo back off sets)
• 5x5 pendlay row - 70kg, 2-3 min rest
• 4x10 face pulls - 60lbs, 1 min rest (on a home gym cable thing)
• 3x10 dips - 15kg, 2-3 min rest

B day

• 5x5 squat (low bar) - 105kg, 4-5 min rest
• 5x7 OHP - 43.75kg, 2-3 min rest (injury prone on this, I go in 1.25kg increments)
• 2x5 deadlift - 130kg, 2-3 min rest
• 4x10 cable chest fly - 115 lbs, 1 min rest (same setup as face pulls)
• 3xF chin ups - 7.5kg, 2-3 min rest (at ~7 reps, I up weight after 3x8)

Warm up is 5+ minutes on elliptical, stretching, and a handful of increasing weight warm up sets on major lifts. 15-20 min LISS cardio immediately after lifting. I tried 15-20 min of HIIT but it killed recovery.

I add things as I feel. Just added ham curls. Might try glute ham raises later. Probably going to add dumbbell pull overs too. My chest seems to need lots of stimulation to grow. Thought about adding lower back but I just switched from high bar to low bar and that hits lower back a lot more, but core less so I might need to add some core and probably should anyway. I'll sometimes sub in lighter 5x8 front squats if my legs are beat, usually mid-week.

Here's progress pics of the bulk so far. Visually, it would seem I'm at the same or slightly less bf %.

My goal is to lean bulk another 10 lbs or so and then cut down to 12-13% looking bf. Here's the stack I plan for the rest of the bulk. After the bulk it'll pretty much be the same thing just without the Erase, ArA (and support), less Torrent and probably drop that added whey (and of course dropping calories overall). I'll add a 3rd Erase per day if I'm not experiencing unpleasant sides. If I feel like I actually got some benefit from this, I might give AnaBeta Elite a run right after and then another run of ArA+Erase. Either way, next year I may seriously consider running a simple first test cycle. I don't really want to go beyond my genetic limit but would rather get there more quickly and try to maintain as much as possible. It's hard not to rush into it, but with only 3 months of real lifting it would be a dumb idea still I think.

Morning:

• 1.5 scoops UN Torrent (100 cal, ~17g carb, ~7g protein, 1g creatine per scoop)
• 12.5 mg or 25 mg ephedrine or 10 mg Adderall (depends how I'm feeling, only Mon-Fri never weekends)
• 200 mg caffeine
• 20 mg Synephrine (I'll start at 10mg and maybe work up, see how I feel)
• 400 mg Green Tea Extract (>40% EGCG)
• 2000 IU Vitamin D
• 600 mg Nac-Acetly Cysteine (anti-oxidant)
• 400 mg Chromium Picolinate
• 5 mg Cialis (for dat blood flow, not ED but it has nice side effects)
• 1 PES Erase

Pre-workout:

• 1 scoop UN Torrent
• 8g whey protein isolate
• 2-2.5 scoops Glycergrow
• 2g L-Carnitine L-Tartrate
• 4 X-Factor Advanced
• 200 mg caffeine
• 50 mg Synephrine
• 2000 IU Vitamin D
• 50 mg zinc picolinate
• 200mg magnesium citrate

Post-workout:

• 3 scoops UN Torrent
• 8g whey protein isolate

Dinner:

• 1 PES Erase
• 200 mg Green Tree Extract
• 400 mg Chromium Picolinate

My diet and training are fairly on-point, so I expect continued good results with or without supplements, but hopefully these help maximize this round of noob gains

 

[CheslinK]

Excellent progress!

 

[LiveToLift]

Wow brother. Great job!

 

[SwolenONE]

Subbed. AMAZING progress thus far. Let me know if you have any X-Factor related questions along the way!

 

[qes]

Been taking erase for a couple days, yesterday was the first workout with ArA. Joints are a little bit more achy than usual. DOMS are not noticeably different.

It was an off week, very busy at work so no lifting since last weekend. I repeated most of my weights except OHP. I keep going back and forth between high bar and low bar squats, too. Can't totally decide which I want to focus on.

I can put up more weight low bar but I think high bar is going to work better for my aesthetic goals. Low bar can make my lower back pretty sore but high bar can make my left front hip pretty sore. High bar's bar position feels much more natural but low bar's movement pattern similarly feels more natural. I've been doing high bar most of the time so I think I'm going to stick with that so I switched back from low bar and did 100kg high bar yesterday.

Apparently I need to eat more, too. It's taken 3 weeks to go from 191 to 192.

 

[qes]

Workout #2

100kgx5x5 high bar squats
97.5kgx5x5 bench + 5xAMRAP backoffs (1st set 90kg, -10kg each set after: 6, 8, 9, 10, 12 reps)
70kgx5x5 pendlay row
65lbsx4x10 face pulls
15kgx3x10 dips (I do these sets: pulls, dips, pulls, dips, pulls)
20 min LISS (I should track steps to measure intensity)

What I noticed most, is that I really crushed it today. Usually with just one day rest it's hard to do that. I did have a 4 day break prior to Workout #1 on this stack, but that usually makes it worse. I've been eating a bit more and keep fat a bit lower (so lots of carbs) - I'd guess this is what helped most, that and finally getting a couple nights of decent (6+ hours) sleep.

Side effects I notice are a little bit of joint ache, very minor. I also appear drier, I suppose. Read that a lot about erase. That's a good side effect to have if you hope to convince people erase has a positive effect (yes I'm skeptical). I'd be curious if there's a purposed method of action for that effect. No increased DOMS from the ArA. I'm only taking that pre-workout (right before squat work sets, after 5-7 min cardio and 5 warm up sets increasing 10kg each up to work weight).

Repeated 100kg on squats because my form was iffy last time after switching back from low bar to high bar. I just needed to focus more and open up at the hips and screw my feet into the floor better. Definitely sticking with high bar. My legs, glutes, hips, and core all seem to get worked at about the same intensity. Not so with low bar. Nailed 100kg, definitely moving up. This is about what I expected. Been hovering around 100kg for a while now so I've got it down.

2nd attempt at 97.5kg on bench. I got 5x5 up last time but with crap form on later reps. Today was better but it was pretty maximal effort. I'll go for 2 plates next time. Also about what I expected.

Rows I love lately, like OHP. Both have been progressing steadily. I had to repeat 62.5 a while back but it's been not that tough going up every time since. Once I took some vids and saw my form was good I focused on explosiveness and it's been smooth sailing since. Again, this is about what I expected. 67.5kg was reasonably easy last time.

2nd attempt at 15kg dips. Last time I only missed the very last rep because I was having a friend try to take pics and pausing mid rep a few times on the last set.

Face pulls were a little easier than I expected, and I was able to go at a pretty good clip on cardio. Chest is finally starting to respond. Happy about that. Feeling pretty confident with my form on everything, too.. finally.

 

[SwolenONE]

Very detailed!! This is going to be an awesome log to follow along with.

Just wait, those tiny improvements to your workouts will become big ones within a couple weeks!

 

[frankz2]

Subbed. Great detail and incredible progress thus far. Very curious about the combo particularly the X-Factor effects. Are you taking a carnitine salt or GMS source as many seem to recommend with ArA?

 

[qes]

Subbed. Great detail and incredible progress thus far. Very curious about the combo particularly the X-Factor effects. Are you taking a carnitine salt or GMS source as many seem to recommend with ArA?

Yep, Glycergrow and LCLT. It's funny, if there's anything that seems different so far, it's quick recovery and lack of DOMS. I have been about 20g of fat lower and 40+g of carbs higher in exchange; the only other change is this stack.

Thawing my second filet of tilapia for the evening. Still gotta come up with a couple hundred fat-free calories yet today.

 

[SwolenONE]

Good luck with the tilapia haha I wish orange roughy wasnt so expensive (as well as endangered).

We gotta get those fish farmers breeding orange roughy... such a tasty fish, low in fat and endlessly better tasting that tilapia.

 

[qes]

Workout #3

102.5kg 5x5 high bar squat
45kg 8,8,7,7,7 seated OHP + 1xAMRAP (12) @30kg
130kg 2x5 deadlift
120lbs 4x10 cable pec fly
7.5kg 3x7 chin ups
12.5kg 4x10 hamstring curls
5kg 3x12 concentration curls
20min LISS cardio


Another day crushing it.

I rarely get 3 sessions in 5 days, this is maybe my 2nd or 3rd time, usually it's 3 in 6 days. I'll probably lift again on Friday, too, though depending on how I feel I may do a lower weight higher volume day.

Added curls today. Biceps haven't changed much in several weeks, and chin ups don't take my biceps to exhaustion. I think I'll also just go to 7 reps on chin ups. My CNS just seems too exhausted by the time I'm doing them to get more reps. 8's always super tough and the next two sets always fall short. I'd rather do fewer reps and work more on incrementing the weight.

 

[SwolenONE]

I like to adjust volume and intensity as well. Most will agree with you, focusing more on the intensity (reps or weight per set) rather than adding in more sets is usually the way to go for getting bigger and stronger.

 

[qes]

Workout #4 (yesterday):

105kg 5x5 high bar squat
100kg 5x5 bench (+back offs)
70kg 5x5 pendlay row
65lbs 4x10 face pulls
15kg 3x10 dips
15min LISS cardio

Couldn't get my kid to sleep and started way late at 1am, consequently was kinda pooped after bench so I repeated weights where I otherwise would've upped them (rows, pulls, dips). My routine takes 3 hours from beginning to end with stretching, warm-up, etc. and afterwards I eat about 1000 kcal between recovery drink and a meal.

I ended up not working out Friday, I felt up for it but was kicking it at my brother in law's for too long. He does strongman and is going for nationals in 6 weeks. Trying to train with him but he's been off the radar with a new girlfriend.

Pounding calories trying to get my rate of gain back up. 3300 for the last few days. Been stuck at 192 lbs. This is about the upper end of where I seem to naturally equalize at so I suppose it's not surprising I'm encountering resistance here. It's been tough getting enough clean carbs but I grabbed some oats at Costco yesterday and started adding that to my greek yogurt shakes, good for another 50g/per day. My new recipe is:

1 cup oats
1 cup coconut water
2 cups frozen strawberries
1 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt
1 scoop ON Gold Standard Whey (double rich chocolate)
2 Tbsp cold milled flax seed
1 Tbsp raw cacao powder
1/4 tsp stevia

794 kcal, 113g carb, 13g fat, 64g protein, 21g fiber, 251mg sodium total.

My breakfast is usually 3/5ths of that shake, 2 eggs, and 1/2 a serving of UN Torrent. I'll probably start using the shakes to fill calories at night, too, since they're quick and easy and full of healthy stuff.

I need to find a better quick lunch option than McDonald's, too much fat. My afternoon snack is a chicken, beans, and quinoa wrap but it's a little much to have for both lunch and afternoon snack 5 days a week.

 

[SwolenONE]

Solid MRP and very healthy w the fruits, oats, etc!

 

[qes]

Workout #5 (yesterday):

105kg squats 5x5
47.5kg OHP x7,6,6,7,6
120kg deadlift 2x5
8.75kg chin ups x7,7,6
120 lbs cable fly 4x10
15kg 4x10 hamstring curls
7.5kg 3x10 concentration curls

Got busy, didn't sleep much, and missed a few days. Was only feeling about 80%. Squats were rough. I didn't even attempt 130kg on deadlifts. Had to put my kid to bed and missed cardio too. Not a great session.

I've also been looking like I've been retaining a lot of water.. I'm forgoing the ArA protocol for a while wondering if that's it, maybe related to inflammation response. Otherwise it could be the change in carbs but the timing of it makes me think it's something in the stack. Unfortunately, it's pretty noticeable and does not look good.

 

[qes]

Workout #5 (yesterday):

105kg squats 5x5
47.5kg OHP x7,6,6,7,6
120kg deadlift 2x5
8.75kg chin ups x7,7,6
120 lbs cable fly 4x10
15kg 4x10 hamstring curls
7.5kg 3x10 concentration curls

Got busy, didn't sleep much, and missed a few days. Was only feeling about 80%. Squats were rough. I didn't even attempt 130kg on deadlifts. Had to put my kid to bed and missed cardio too. Not a great session.

I've also been looking like I've been retaining a lot of water.. I'm forgoing the ArA protocol for a while wondering if that's it, maybe related to inflammation response. Otherwise it could be the change in carbs but the timing of it makes me think it's something in the stack. Unfortunately, it's pretty noticeable and does not look good.

 

[SwolenONE]

I dont think the ArA would be having that effect on you, never heard of holding any more or less water w X-Factor/XFA.

I'll be interested to see if that changes, as this stack dried me up nicely when I used it.

 

[qes]

I dont think the ArA would be having that effect on you, never heard of holding any more or less water w X-Factor/XFA.

I'll be interested to see if that changes, as this stack dried me up nicely when I used it.

Well, so below is Aug 3, 25, and 27th. I've been looking just flabby/bloated/loss of definition. I take these pics a couple times a week and take several trying to get a good one, so it's not like one bad pic. It's a bit subtle in the pics, but noticeable and seems moreso IRL. Interestingly, vascularity in my arms seems to go along with the bloat in my belly.

I thought maybe the bulk was just catching up with me, or possibly the change in carbs, but now since not taking ArA since Sat it appears to be going back to normal and I'm still over 300g of net carbs a day.

 

[SwolenONE]

For whatever reason, I too am able to handle carbs better while on X-Factor. I truly have no idea what the method of action is for why that's the case, but Ive experienced it for years now when Im on an XF cycle and countless others have shared similar feedback.

 

[qes]

Workout #6 (Friday):

105kg squats
100kg bench
72.5kg row
16.25kg dips
70 lbs face pulls
20 min LISS

Last week was rough, both workouts felt less than 100%. Squats were heavy as furk again. Better, but not good enough to move up, and I was starting to consider a deload. Bench was good, until I weirdly tweaked my wrist half way in. Threw some ice on it for a couple min and was ok to finish.


Workout #7 (tonight):

105kg squats
47.5kg ohp 5x7
120kg deadlift 2x5
8.75kg pull ups 7,7,5
125 lbs cable flys
15kg hammy curls
20 min LISS

Missed a few days, holiday weekend and all. Did ok with the diet over the weekend, considering. I don't worry too much here and there since I'm on point 90+% of the time. Finally felt 100% again. I was planning to just do 100kg squats but was feeling good during warm up so I did 105. Good enough to pass, though I maybe will repeat once more. It's still very taxing and every bump up over 100 has been much more difficult. On deadlifts, I wasn't totally confident with my back lock-in and tried messing around with my form a couple/few weeks ago, but it made things worse and turned my deads into good mornings. It's taken several sessions to re-find what was working for me before. Tonight went well, I'm hoping to blast up past my previous PR of 130 now. Dropped the curls, my routine already takes too long. I'm also now trying the chin ups just by themselves, rather than alternating sets of chins and flys. Instead I alternate flys and hamstring curls. Chin ups are tough, they are very CNS taxing at a point in my routine when my CNS is shot (right after deads). I may try swapping its day with dips but that might not be any better.

As for the ArA, I will probably try it again at some point to see if the bloating returns. It may not be the ArA but something else with it like the glycergrow, too.

 

[SwolenONE]

Glycergrow directly causes water retention... one of its primary benefits (hyper hydration).

 

[qes]

Glycergrow directly causes water retention... one of its primary benefits (hyper hydration).

Hmm.. maybe I'll give it a shot without that. I was recovering very quickly with the ArA stack, hopefully that wasn't the glycergrow.

Workout #7 (yesterday):

90kg squats 3x8, 107.5kg 1x3
90kg bench 3x8, 102.5kg 1x3
72.5kg row 5x5
17.5kg dips 3x10
75 lbs face pulls 4x10
15 min LISS

Was short on time and a little sore so I switched up reps on squats and bench. Rows I repeated because last time a couple last reps were iffy.

 

[qes]

I can't believe how many calories I keep needing to keep up a decent rate of gain. Struggling to put on a pound every 10 days while going from 2800 to 3000 to 3300+ kcal in a couple/few weeks. On the chart, many of the particularly low days are actually days I was over from eating out and just didn't get things entered. At least I've gone from 192 to 193.5 in the last 15 days vs. taking nearly 4 weeks to get from 191 to 192.