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Swole Stack Log

hypo

hypo

Board Supporter
Hi AI Forum,

I got two Swole stacks in the black Friday sale, and have just started one, so I thought I'd post up a so that people can follow along, so that I can track my own progress, and so that if I have any questions hopefully AI can help out.

I've been training for several years, though some periods have been on and off. I like to think that I'm at a point now where I practice good form over trying to show off with high weight. I am 6'2, 200lbs, at about 12-13% body fat.

For this stack my general goal is a lean/slow mass and strength gain with minimal fat gain (or hopefully none). I am just coming off of a seven week cut and it feels good to have glycogen in the muscles again! I know this stack is not hormonal so I do not expect crazy gains in a short amount of time (which I would not want anyway), but a little strength and a little recomp would be great!

I've only recently discovered the benefits of a very strict diet, and am committed to an effective and healthy diet. I still have my little cheats like everyone else, but they are usually on the healthy side. I've relaxed the diet standards a bit from how anal I was about it during the cut. For the next several months, my daily diet goals are at least 3200 calories per day, with more allowable if I feel hungry. My macro goals per day are 300g protein, with the rest coming from carbs and fat, obviously. I will try not to go over 100g of fat per day. During the cut I followed a macro split, but I am relaxing that aspect of it a bit. As long as I hit my protein, the C/F ratio can vary day to day. I will eat my biggest meals as breakfast and the post workout meal, and on rest days space meals out evenly.

I'll be following a general Max OT style of training, which is low volume, high weight, low reps, in the 4-6 rep or so range. Some days I do higher reps if I feel like it, like in the 8 rep range. Generally I do about 6-8 sets per body part.

Now, I have a fragile lower back ever since I messed it up good squatting in high school (I am 25 now). If I am not very very careful it is very easy to sprain; I have probably sprained it about 15 times since then, and have even sprained it once in the morning just by bending over the sink! For this reason my squats and deads are low, but I practice perfect form on them, and listen to what my back is telling me (I am pretty experienced by now). I do as much weight as my back allows. I am also ordering a good quality belt and will start using it so I can really get back into these crucial exercises.

Anyway, if you're still here, here is my split and my current weights. I am on my second day of the cycle!

Saturday: Chest/Tris

Flat BB Bench: 225x4 (3 sets)
Incline DB Bench: 80x6 (3 sets)
Weighted Dips: 80x5 (3 sets)
Seated Overhead DB Extensions: 70x8,7,6 (3 sets)

Sunday: Back/Bis

BB Row: 165x6 (3 sets)
Weighted Pullups: 35x5 (4 sets)
DB Row 100x6: (3 sets)
Straight bar standing preacher curl: 80x5 (4 sets)

Tuesday: Delts/Traps

DB Press: 55x8,7,6 (3 sets)
BB Upright Row: 115x8 (3 sets)
BB Press: 115 x 8,8,5 (3 sets)
BB Shrug: 225 x 6 (3 sets)

Wednesday: Legs

Squat: 185x8 (3 sets)
Lying Ham Curl: 165x7,6,4 (3 sets)
Hack Squat: 320 (plus sled weight) x 8 (3 sets)
Seated Calf Raise: 4 sets of 70 to failure
Standing Calf Raise (under a smith machine or in a leg press): 4 sets of whatever I can get 6-10 reps with


Obviously I am still dialing in on some of the weights. I am just starting this split and just finished my second week. Also obviously my legs are my weak point, though I have been blessed with good genetics and they are pretty big (for my size) already. When I get my belt I will feel more confident with squatting, I am sure.

I will post a "before" pic or two soon.
 
Last edited:
Forgot to post a few diet details.

Protein Sources:

-Turkey Breasts (boneless/skinless)
-Lean/trimmed Sirloin
-Lean/trimmed Pork Chops
-EAS Whey
-Eggs and Egg Whites

Carb Sources:

-Quick Oats
-Quaker Oatmeal Squares (don't laugh, its a good cereal as far as cereals go)
-Brown Rice
-Veggies and Fruit here and there
-Cream of Wheat once in a while, usually post workout

Fat Sources:

-Olive Oil
-Peanut Butter
-Pecans and Walnuts

Misc. Sources:

-Skim Milk
-Water (no other beverages)

I weight meat with a scale, and generally measure carbs and fats by volume for purposes of calorie counting.
 
Just a small update. I am feeling pretty good in general, but don't know if the stack has kicked in yet. I am definitely looking full though, I guess that is the glycobol? I've been true to my diet, but have had a few cheats like chipotle and a publix sub or two. Still fairly healthy, and I skip the sour cream, mayo, etc.

I had kind of a bad day in the gym today (chest; one day early due to a boat trip tomorrow). Actually, I had a great time in the gym, I had a lot of energy and felt good, but my weights were down a bit from last week. Oh well, it happens. I did a few extra sets to try to make up for it.
 
hypo said:
Just a small update. I am feeling pretty good in general, but don't know if the stack has kicked in yet. I am definitely looking full though, I guess that is the glycobol? I've been true to my diet, but have had a few cheats like chipotle and a publix sub or two. Still fairly healthy, and I skip the sour cream, mayo, etc.

I had kind of a bad day in the gym today (chest; one day early due to a boat trip tomorrow). Actually, I had a great time in the gym, I had a lot of energy and felt good, but my weights were down a bit from last week. Oh well, it happens. I did a few extra sets to try to make up for it.
Click to expand...

The Glycobol can give you that full look.
 
Well, I am one week into it now. I am kind of seeing some strength gains, but these might just be natural progression. I am only one week into it, so am not worried about that! What I do notice is the awesome workouts. I have a ton of energy in the gym, and am throwing in extra sets at the end now. In fact, when this week's rotation is done I think I will switch to a higher volume scheme to take advantage.

The pumps are great, and are at that point where if I flex really hard the muscle will seize up. This happened to me after last workout several hours after the workout!

Also, I seem to be dropping fat, or at least not gaining any fat or water, which is pretty cool considering I am in calorie surplus. Admittedly I've only been getting about 3000 per day, but it has been clean. I am going to do my best to bump to 3200, but working 9-5 makes it difficult to pack enough variety into my lunches every day so that I actually want to eat them. I know this is a mental roadblock I have to get over, though.

I am not having stomach problems from the Glycobol, which some others have reported. Stools were a little loose the first few days but everything is more or less normal now.
 
hypo said:
Well, I am one week into it now. I am kind of seeing some strength gains, but these might just be natural progression. I am only one week into it, so am not worried about that! What I do notice is the awesome workouts. I have a ton of energy in the gym, and am throwing in extra sets at the end now. In fact, when this week's rotation is done I think I will switch to a higher volume scheme to take advantage.

The pumps are great, and are at that point where if I flex really hard the muscle will seize up. This happened to me after last workout several hours after the workout!

Also, I seem to be dropping fat, or at least not gaining any fat or water, which is pretty cool considering I am in calorie surplus. Admittedly I've only been getting about 3000 per day, but it has been clean. I am going to do my best to bump to 3200, but working 9-5 makes it difficult to pack enough variety into my lunches every day so that I actually want to eat them. I know this is a mental roadblock I have to get over, though.

I am not having stomach problems from the Glycobol, which some others have reported. Stools were a little loose the first few days but everything is more or less normal now.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it is going well. Glycobol varies so much from person to person it is really hard to figure out. I am happy it is treating you well.
 
Had a great leg day today, crazy pumps. Here are the new numbers:

Squat: 205x8 (up from 185x8, felt about the same difficulty wise). I used a bench to gauge when I hit parallel (didn't sit on it, just used it to gauge when I hit parallel) and found I was actually going lower than parallel before. I'm using a bench from now on, it was much easier on my back. Amazingly, I was the only one in the gym today to go to parallel, though of course everyone else did more weight than me, lol.

Lying Ham Curl: 165x8,8,8 (up from 7,6,4 reps)

Hack Squat: 370x4, then 320x8,5. I had 50 lbs more weight on for the first set but only got four reps and the knees felt bad, so I went back to the previous weight.

Leg press calf raise: 10 plates x 8,6,7,8, up from 8 plates at 10,10,10,10. Maybe this is about the same, I don't know. We'll see the reps go up next week ;)

I was pretty wiped after today's session so instead of doing more sets I did some nice hamstring stretching, which I need to work on.

Also, I get a pump in the arms just from showering, which is pretty cool.
 
hypo said:
Had a great leg day today, crazy pumps. Here are the new numbers:

Squat: 205x8 (up from 185x8, felt about the same difficulty wise). I used a bench to gauge when I hit parallel (didn't sit on it, just used it to gauge when I hit parallel) and found I was actually going lower than parallel before. I'm using a bench from now on, it was much easier on my back. Amazingly, I was the only one in the gym today to go to parallel, though of course everyone else did more weight than me, lol.

Lying Ham Curl: 165x8,8,8 (up from 7,6,4 reps)

Hack Squat: 370x4, then 320x8,5. I had 50 lbs more weight on for the first set but only got four reps and the knees felt bad, so I went back to the previous weight.

Leg press calf raise: 10 plates x 8,6,7,8, up from 8 plates at 10,10,10,10. Maybe this is about the same, I don't know. We'll see the reps go up next week ;)

I was pretty wiped after today's session so instead of doing more sets I did some nice hamstring stretching, which I need to work on.

Also, I get a pump in the arms just from showering, which is pretty cool.
Click to expand...

Pumps in the arm from showering very cool.
 
Changed my rep schemes to a bit more reps per set (had to lower the weight, of course), and I am feeling sore again the next day, so change is good, I guess. My strength seems to be going down a bit, but for back day that can be explained perhaps with the new addition of deadlifts as the first exercise that day. Here's my numbers:

Flat Bench: 205x7,5,6 (225x4,3,5 last week)
Incline DB: 75x8,7,6 (about 80x4 last week)
Dips: 50x7,6,6 (was 80x4 for a set and 45x8,7 last week)
Behind the head DB Extension: 70x6,4,5 (was 65x8,8,7 last week)

Back Day:

Deads 225x8 (first week doing them, felt nice and easy)
Pullups: 25x6,5,4 (was 35x5,5,5,4 two weeks ago)
BB Row: 155x5,5,6 (was 155x8,8,8 last week :( )
DB Row: 90x10,10 (was 100x6,6,6 last week)
DB Preacher curl: 25x8,8,7 per arm (first week doing this too, but was 80x5,5,4 with a straight bar)

So, overall, strength is probably about flat. One thing I've noticed is I am actually losing fat at the moment, which is great! My ab wall is becoming more defined, and I am starting to see muscle separation in the quads (I hold fat on my legs). I've been sticking to 3200 calories per day. My weight has also been steady right at 200 lbs. The decreasing strength and loss of fat tells me I am probably eating less than I need to be to gain weight, however the steady scale tells me if I have lost fat I've also put on a little bit of muscle, or retained some extra glycogen.

Also, I'm back to one glycobol before carb heavy meals instead of two twice daily. I usually end up taking three per day this way. Taking two messed with my stomach a bit at times, so I think one is enough.
 
hypo said:
Also, I'm back to one glycobol before carb heavy meals instead of two twice daily. I usually end up taking three per day this way. Taking two messed with my stomach a bit at times, so I think one is enough.
Click to expand...

I think so as well, I used to dose two before a meal and na-r-ala is 10-30 more times powerful than regular r-ala(which is potent in and of itself) plus all the other insulin memetics in Glycobol.

I am thinking about trying two post workout and seeing how that works as I continually like to re-evaluate and try new things and see if it works better than before.
 
John Smeton said:
I am thinking about trying two post workout and seeing how that works as I continually like to re-evaluate and try new things and see if it works better than before.
Click to expand...

That might work well, especially if you can get 100+ grams of low GI carbs in there. If I had 100+g carb meals I'd use two, but as it is the highest my meals tend to go is 60-80g.
 
I've tried as high as 4, and it was horrible. I felt like crap, was hungry as hell. I generally use 2 myself, because if i'm bothering having carbs at a meal, its generally over 75g
 
EasyEJL said:
I've tried as high as 4, and it was horrible. I felt like crap, was hungry as hell. I generally use 2 myself, because if i'm bothering having carbs at a meal, its generally over 75g
Click to expand...

Yup 2 a day when I use it works very well for me.
 
Did legs today. I also got a nice belt (by best belts) in the mail so I tried that out. I love it, it really lets me go all out on the squats. I'll only use it on the heavy sets, not any of the warm up sets, of course.

Squat: 225x7,7,8. (Up from 205x8,8,8 last week)
Lying leg curl: 170x7,7,6. (Last week was 165x8,8,8)
Front Squat: 135x8,8,8. Think I'm going to replace hack squat with these. They felt good and I get great range of motion with them. Keeping the weight a little light lets me do these quickly and explosively while keeping good form. No belt for these
Leg Press Calf Raise: 10 plates + 50 lbs x8,8,8,8. (Awesome. Up from 10 plates x 8,6,7,8 last week)
Seated Calf Raise: 90lbsx8,8,7,6

Weights are generally up, so I'm pleased! I did shoulders/traps the day before, but left my log in the car, so I'll post them up tomorrow.

Also, I weighed myself today and the same scale read 202! Probably just normal variation, but still it's been pegged at 200 for a while. I have definitely lost fat since starting this log: this morning I looked very lean after waking up. What's awesome is I'm not even trying to lose weight. I've been consistent on 3200 cals per day.

EasyEJL: You are crazy taking 4 glycobol, lol. These things are potent!
 
hypo said:
Did legs today. I also got a nice belt (by best belts) in the mail so I tried that out. I love it, it really lets me go all out on the squats. I'll only use it on the heavy sets, not any of the warm up sets, of course.

Squat: 225x7,7,8. (Up from 205x8,8,8 last week)
Lying leg curl: 170x7,7,6. (Last week was 165x8,8,8)
Front Squat: 135x8,8,8. Think I'm going to replace hack squat with these. They felt good and I get great range of motion with them. Keeping the weight a little light lets me do these quickly and explosively while keeping good form. No belt for these
Leg Press Calf Raise: 10 plates + 50 lbs x8,8,8,8. (Awesome. Up from 10 plates x 8,6,7,8 last week)
Seated Calf Raise: 90lbsx8,8,7,6

Weights are generally up, so I'm pleased! I did shoulders/traps the day before, but left my log in the car, so I'll post them up tomorrow.

Also, I weighed myself today and the same scale read 202! Probably just normal variation, but still it's been pegged at 200 for a while.

EasyEJL: You are crazy taking 4 glycobol, lol. These things are potent!
Click to expand...


Nice workout. I am taking four glycobols as well on workout days, no issues here.

*remember AI Sports Nutrition uses NA-R-ALA which is 10-30 x's more powerful than R-ALA.

heres a really good article I recommend everyone interested in Glycobol look at

Invalid Link Removed
 
hypo said:
Did legs today. I also got a nice belt (by best belts) in the mail so I tried that out. I love it, it really lets me go all out on the squats. I'll only use it on the heavy sets, not any of the warm up sets, of course.

Squat: 225x7,7,8. (Up from 205x8,8,8 last week)
Lying leg curl: 170x7,7,6. (Last week was 165x8,8,8)
Front Squat: 135x8,8,8. Think I'm going to replace hack squat with these. They felt good and I get great range of motion with them. Keeping the weight a little light lets me do these quickly and explosively while keeping good form. No belt for these
Leg Press Calf Raise: 10 plates + 50 lbs x8,8,8,8. (Awesome. Up from 10 plates x 8,6,7,8 last week)
Seated Calf Raise: 90lbsx8,8,7,6

Weights are generally up, so I'm pleased! I did shoulders/traps the day before, but left my log in the car, so I'll post them up tomorrow.

Also, I weighed myself today and the same scale read 202! Probably just normal variation, but still it's been pegged at 200 for a while. I have definitely lost fat since starting this log: this morning I looked very lean after waking up. What's awesome is I'm not even trying to lose weight. I've been consistent on 3200 cals per day.

EasyEJL: You are crazy taking 4 glycobol, lol. These things are potent!
Click to expand...

Nice workout! and yeah, it was terrible. I can manage ok with 3 if I take them 15-20 min before 100g carbs, but at 4 I had 150g with the meal, and just kept eating carb heavy stuff. I think I hit over 250g before I felt normal
 
EasyEJL said:
Nice workout! and yeah, it was terrible. I can manage ok with 3 if I take them 15-20 min before 100g carbs, but at 4 I had 150g with the meal, and just kept eating carb heavy stuff. I think I hit over 250g before I felt normal
Click to expand...

I personally need 100+ carbs before I will take 2 caps.
 
Sorry for no update in a while, here are this week's numbers:

Chest/Tris

Started a new routine for this day:
-Inc. bench: 155x8,8,8 (Flat bench was 205x7,5,7). Humbling. Haven't done these in a while, and it's funny how inc. DB press does not really carry over.
-Flat DB Press: 85x5,5,5
-Dips: 35x10,10,6 (didn't have my sheet with me so forgot what weight to use, but it was 50x7,7,6 last week. going back to 50 next week)
-DB extensions: 60x10,10,10

Back
-Deads: 275x6,8,6 (up from 225x8,8,8)
-Pullups: 25x5,5,5. Strength seems to be going down on these, don't really know why.
-DB Row: 100x6,6,6 (90x10,10 last week)
-one arm DB preacher curl: 25x10,10,10 (was 25x8,8,7 last week)

Delts/Traps
-DB Press: 60x8,8,6 (don't have my notes from last week for shoulder day)
-Upright DB Row: 50x8,8,10
-Upright Dips: bodyweightx16,16,8
-Smith machine shrug: 190x8,8,8

Legs
-Squat: 255x6,6,6 (up from 225x7,7,8)
-Ham Curl: 170x8,8,7 (was 170x7,7,6)
-Front Squat: 155x8,8,8 (135x8,8,8 last week)
-LP calf raise: 4 platesx10,10,8,8. Changed from both calves at the same time to one leg at a time so I wouldn't have to load so many plates
-Seated calf raise: 100x8,8,8,8 (up from 90x8,8,7,6)

Still haven't gained weight, though. Stuck at around 200-201.
 
pembroke3355 said:
I personally need 100+ carbs before I will take 2 caps.
Click to expand...

same here. at least 50 per one capsule

hypo said:
Sorry for no update in a while, here are this week's numbers:

Chest/Tris

Started a new routine for this day:
-Inc. bench: 155x8,8,8 (Flat bench was 205x7,5,7). Humbling. Haven't done these in a while, and it's funny how inc. DB press does not really carry over.
-Flat DB Press: 85x5,5,5
-Dips: 35x10,10,6 (didn't have my sheet with me so forgot what weight to use, but it was 50x7,7,6 last week. going back to 50 next week)
-DB extensions: 60x10,10,10

Back
-Deads: 275x6,8,6 (up from 225x8,8,8)
-Pullups: 25x5,5,5. Strength seems to be going down on these, don't really know why.
-DB Row: 100x6,6,6 (90x10,10 last week)
-one arm DB preacher curl: 25x10,10,10 (was 25x8,8,7 last week)

Delts/Traps
-DB Press: 60x8,8,6 (don't have my notes from last week for shoulder day)
-Upright DB Row: 50x8,8,10
-Upright Dips: bodyweightx16,16,8
-Smith machine shrug: 190x8,8,8

Legs
-Squat: 255x6,6,6 (up from 225x7,7,8)
-Ham Curl: 170x8,8,7 (was 170x7,7,6)
-Front Squat: 155x8,8,8 (135x8,8,8 last week)
-LP calf raise: 4 platesx10,10,8,8. Changed from both calves at the same time to one leg at a time so I wouldn't have to load so many plates
-Seated calf raise: 100x8,8,8,8 (up from 90x8,8,7,6)

Still haven't gained weight, though. Stuck at around 200-201.
Click to expand...

nice workout. what else do you notice on the swole stack?
 
hypo said:
Sorry for no update in a while, here are this week's numbers:

Chest/Tris

Started a new routine for this day:
-Inc. bench: 155x8,8,8 (Flat bench was 205x7,5,7). Humbling. Haven't done these in a while, and it's funny how inc. DB press does not really carry over.
-Flat DB Press: 85x5,5,5
-Dips: 35x10,10,6 (didn't have my sheet with me so forgot what weight to use, but it was 50x7,7,6 last week. going back to 50 next week)
-DB extensions: 60x10,10,10

Back
-Deads: 275x6,8,6 (up from 225x8,8,8)
-Pullups: 25x5,5,5. Strength seems to be going down on these, don't really know why.
-DB Row: 100x6,6,6 (90x10,10 last week)
-one arm DB preacher curl: 25x10,10,10 (was 25x8,8,7 last week)

Delts/Traps
-DB Press: 60x8,8,6 (don't have my notes from last week for shoulder day)
-Upright DB Row: 50x8,8,10
-Upright Dips: bodyweightx16,16,8
-Smith machine shrug: 190x8,8,8

Legs
-Squat: 255x6,6,6 (up from 225x7,7,8)
-Ham Curl: 170x8,8,7 (was 170x7,7,6)
-Front Squat: 155x8,8,8 (135x8,8,8 last week)
-LP calf raise: 4 platesx10,10,8,8. Changed from both calves at the same time to one leg at a time so I wouldn't have to load so many plates
-Seated calf raise: 100x8,8,8,8 (up from 90x8,8,7,6)

Still haven't gained weight, though. Stuck at around 200-201.
Click to expand...

Good looking workouts bro.
 
I met an awesome girl over New Year's weekend, so diet was kind of off the past two or three days, but I'm back on track now. I also took her to the gym and somewhat sacrificed my chest workout, so I didn't write any of the weights down for that one. But I don't mind at all :D

Anyway, just did back today and had a great workout!

Deads: 295x4,5,5 (was 275x6,8,6 last week)
Pullup: 25x6,5,4 (was 25x5,5,5 last week)
DB Rows: 105x6,6,6 (was 100x6,6,6 last week)
One arm DB Preachers: 30x9,8,6 (was 25x10,10,10 last week)

So apparently a few days of cheat meals did me some good :). I'm most psyched about the deads, it's a new PR for me, however maybe 295 with the lower reps is somewhat equivalent to 275 with the higher reps... anyway, they felt good; next week I will try for a solid 6 or 7 reps per set. Pullups seem to be stagnated but I'll gladly sacrifice them for the deads moving up.

John: as to how I feel, honestly I do not feel any "different" on this stack. I don't notice increased aggression or libido. However, having recently had routine bloodwork done at the doctor's before I started the stack, I recall my natural testosterone levels being quite high. The bloodwork results gave a range for my age and I was probably in the 90th percentile or so. So maybe this stack will not do as much for me as for a man further along in age who has lost some of his natural test production.
 
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