ICJLM Logs Blue GrowtH !!!!! (sponsored)

[ICJLM]

First thing's first: gotta give a big thanks to RenegadeRows!!!!!! Not only did he hook me up with a free bottle of BGH, but he was also very understanding of the fact that I wouldn't be able to begin this log as soon as we hoped. I am a month later than what was initially intended, but that doesn't mean I'm not still gunna bring it! I have been absolutely training my tail off and have really stepped it up these past couple weeks. I'm hoping this recent boost in performance and motivation will remain throughout this bulking season. I have high hopes for the next several months, and plan to get things started off right with Blue GrowtH.

Right now I am weighing in at a consistent 196 lbs, which I am very pleased with. Two bills is just around the corner! In honor of nearly reaching this landmark, I decided to reflect upon how far I've come over the years. It's crazy when I realize that less than 4 years ago I was just one inch shorter in height, but close to 70 pounds lighter!!!!
....Anyhow, this brings me to my goals for this log:
-keep gaining weight
-keep gaining STRENGTH

It's been an endless grind to continuously do these two things over the years, but it has all been worth it. I'm really hoping to get some good sleep on this stuff, as I sometimes feel that the quality of my sleep has not been particularly great relative to how it usually is. I sometimes feel rested physically, but not cognitively/mentally. I'm a full-time college student, and have some straight up stupid dedication when it comes to this sport. So, I keep busy and sometimes feel a bit stressed, which may be contributing to the less than ideal quality of my sleep lately. I always leave myself with a nine hour window that I dedicate to sleep on most nights, unless of course my school work forces me to do otherwise. However I end up getting my preferred nine hours on most nights.

I really like the fact that this product features AlphaSize and GlycoCarn. I know these are both high quality ingredients, so CL really formulated this product in hopes of it delivering genuine results. I hope the additional rest will serve me well since I will soon be starting a new program focused on strength gains in the main three lifts. I am hoping for consistent strength progressions in the big three, and particularly on the bench. The program will hit each muscle group once every 6 days, but I will be benching twice out of the six days. I will begin this training split on Wednesday, following my last routine rest day from my current training split on Tuesday.

My current training split (which as I mentioned is coming to a close) is a power-hypertrophy split. It hits each muscle group twice while rotating every eight days. It is gunna be a big change switching from this split, because it requires that I train seven days in a row, followed by one rest day. The extra rest days with my new approach will likely serve me well, but hopefully my exercise addiction does not force me to add unnecessary training sessions in where I did not intend to have them. While my current split is my most reliable training cycle, I feel it is time for a change. Particularly, one that will optimize strength gains. Since most muscle groups will be hit just once over a six-day span, it will allow for more rest time. As you can see, I like splits that do not rotate every seven days. This is because I feel a 7-day split forces you to feel bound by days of the week, so things get screwed up when you have to unexpectedly miss a day.

This training split will look something like this:
1-Lower Body (emphasis on heavy squats in the beginning)
2-Chest (emphasis on heavy flat bb bench in the beginning) -will likely include a bit of tricep work
3-Back (emphasis on heavy bb dlift in the beginning) -will likely include a bit of bicep work
4-Off
5-Shoulders (BUT, I will also flat bb bench in beginning on this day)
6-Off
REPEAT

I may cut out the tricep stuff from day 2 and the bicep stuff from day 3. I may then train arms on day 4, or even do a separate arm session on day 5 after a shoulder session. It will probably all depend on a week-to-week basis, and I will judge by how much school work I have. Either way, I am sure that I will be hitting the bench press, squat, and deadlift hard.
Right now my numbers look like this:

Squat - I recently did a couple consecutive sets of 4 reps @315lbs. I have always struggled with squats, but those weights and reps are very good for me. My recent progression has made me really enthusiastic about squats lately, so I have just busted through a huge mental barrier. I think the mental aspect was the toughest part for me, but I feel that is now in my past, so I'm hoping for big things on the squat.

Deadlift - This lift has always come naturally to me. I started off really weak at them a couple years ago, but got very serious with them last year and have been killin it ever since. In July I did a 1RM @460lbs. I haven't tried a 1RM since, but recently had a training session where I did three sets of 2 reps @445lbs. On the first set of 445, I almost went for 3 reps cuz I knew I coulda done it, but I was not trying to train that close to failure that day, so I backed off. I think I should be able to hit at least 475lbs for a 1RM.

Bench Press - I will be benching twice every 6 days, because I am really focused on increasing this lift. I feel I have been at a bit of a stand still lately. I have not attempted a 1RM in ages. My last 1RM was last November when I did 260lbs for the first time. I can now do 265lbs for 3+ reps. Not the greatest progression, but I simply feel way stronger. I can likely hit a 1RM of about 290lbs according to many conversion charts. I will now be following this bench pressing routine on an app for my Droid phone. If all goes to plan, I should hit a 1RM of 315lbs on December 19 (which happens to be the day after my 21st bday). That would be a sick bday gift.

I also have very recent pictures that will act as my before pics. I took them on Friday, so they will work just fine. I really don't feel like posting those up tonight, so hopefully I have time to get them up tomorrow.

I think I said all of the introductory mumbo jumbo that I wanted...... so let the games begin!!!!!!!

 

[mattrag]

Good basic strength man... make me look weak!

Lets see what you can do!

 

[ICJLM]

Good basic strength man... make me look weak!

Lets see what you can do!

Thanks, man. Glad to have ya here!

 

[ICJLM]

So I ended up dosing two caps last night directly before going to sleep. I wanted to get up a bit earlier than normal so that I could study, so I ended up with ~7 hrs of sleep, and I feel just fine. I'll see how I feel once I hit the weights, which should be in about three hours from now. I will definitely be bringing the dose up to the suggested five caps tonight.

Also, I find the scent inside the bottle to be quite unpleasant. It smells like a chemistry lab in there. I also noticed that there is this strange residue on the outside of most of the pills, some more than others. It's probably not a big deal, but I'm just saying what I've observed.....

 

[ICJLM]

I asked this in another thread, but maybe someone can answer it here:

I have a question though. I eat my final meal usually ~1.5-2.0 hours before going to bed. Then I typically snack on almonds and walnuts following this meal, and do so right up until I make my shake. I drink 3/4 of my shake just before going to bed, and then finish the last 1/4 when I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.... So, considering that I basically never have an empty stomach, when should I take the 5 BGH pills? Is there any part of my pre-bed eating routine that I will have to modify?

 

[j1mb0]

in on this shun!!

 

[RenegadeRows]

Hell yEAH!!!!! I'M HERE!

 

[ICJLM]

in on this shun!!

Hell yEAH!!!!! I'M HERE!

Glad you both could make it!

 

[ICJLM]

So, I don't really have a whole lot to say as of yet. I took the recommended 5 pills last night before bed, and had no problems as expected. Didn't notice any changes in particular, and I don't have any training sessions to report since today was an off day as scheduled. Tomorrow will mark the day that I begin a different training split as I have already described above.

I will be training legs tomorrow and absolutely cannot wait to squat. Like I mentioned earlier, I feel like I have broken through some sort of stupid mental barrier that was holding me back before. It took until my last few leg workouts to really think to myself "You know what? You're way too strong to be having a tough time with 225 lbs on your back. It's time to go balls to the wall." ....and so, I listened to my inner voice! Last leg workout was sadly the first time I've even put 315 on the bar, but I came out successful by getting a couple sets of 4 reps. We'll see what happens tomorrow. It all depends on how daring I'm feeling!!!!

Stay tuned, folks!

 

[ICJLM]

Day 2 - Lower Body

So yesterday was day 2, but I never really got a chance to report back after my workout.... But it was phuckin sick!!!! I lifted with a friend of mine who is extremely animated in the gym, so he always helps me get pumped up. Altho sometimes, he is just too much for me to handle and he can get a bit embarrassing to be around haha cuz it just makes us look like absolute meatheads. But yesterday was sick, we had a good ass time slapping the hell out of each other. We started with squats and we were hitting each other realllllly hard before big sets. My right lat looks absolutely awful, he bruised the sh*t out of it. I took a pic but it says the dimensions are too big to upload or something, which is annyoing cuz i have no clue how to do this crap. I wish u could see it, but just take my word for it, that it looks nasty.

But anyhow, the reason we were slapping each other was so that we could beast it on the squat. Like I said before, there was always this mental element to squatting that had been limiting me for a while, but I finally busted through that barrier. My last squatting workout I put 315 on for the first time. This time I worked up to 335 and performed sets of 3 with this weight. I did two sets of 3. It felt good, and I was making sure to hit depth and get nice slow eccentric reps and then explode hard on the concentric. I can't wait to squat again. I may just throw on 365 next time just for sh*ts and gigs.
The rest of the workout went well too. It looked something like this:
-Heavy BB Back Squats
-Leg Extension ss/Leg Press (with a low, close foot placement)
-Single Leg Curl Mchn. ss/Seated Calf Raise
-Hip Adduction ss/Hip Abduction (haha don't make fun of me)
-Leg Ext Mchn (one grueling set that goes---> reps-rest pause-dropset-rest pause)
-Lying Leg Curls (one grueling set that goes---> full ROM to failure-heavier weight partials-original weight partials)

That last set of leg curls made it feel like my hammies were going to rip clean off the bone. Painful, but awesome. Let me know if any of that is unclear, and I can clarify and show you which equipment was used.

 

[ICJLM]

Day 3 - Chest

Trained chest today. This was my first time in soooooo long training just chest. I usually always pair chest and shoulders, but not with my new split. I felt unproductive without the extra work required of me when doing shoulders as well. I may start throwing in a bunch of tricep stuff too just to keep busy. I started out with flat BB bench, just as I will be doing every day for the next six weeks. I will also do so on shoulder day to start off. I am following a program to get my bench to 315 before xmas as long as I complete all the planned lifts. Today's were--
1 set of 225 for 6
2 sets of 240 for 5
2 sets of 250 for 4

None of those were too difficult by any means, so no issues there. The workout in all was something like this:
-Flat BB Bench
-Standing Cable Flies (low attachment) ss/Standing Cable Flies (high attachment)
-Inc BB Bench
-Neck Press aka "Guillotine" Press (also flat BB)
-Inc DB ss/Dips
-Fly Mchn

Workout went alright. Nothing particularly important to note, just happy I hit all my lifts on flat bench. Tomorrow is back. I will also be deadlifting. I'm not sure whether or not I want to go heavy with those tomorrow, so you will just have to stay tuned to see!!!

 

[ICJLM]

Day 4 - Back

Friday was day 4 of Blue GrowtH. It was a Back day, which includes deadlifting. I worked up to 435 lbs on the deadlift and performed a set of 4 reps with this weight. I could have done a fifth and possibly even a sixth rep, but I did not want my form breaking down too bad. So, I took it easy following that big set because that is still a PR for me with 435 on the bar. That is something I have just grown to know about my body: when I have worked hard enough to induce an adaptive response without having to overdo it. It's a valuable thing to know.
The rest of the workout went like this:
BB Dlift
Weighted Pronated Pullups
Wide VBar
Wide Grip Cable Pulldowns (relatively light but very short rest btwn sets)
Reverse Fly Mchn ss/Pre-wtd. Bar Uprt Rows
BW Hanging Rows ss/Pullups negs and stretching

 

[ICJLM]

Day 5 - Off

Yesterday was day 5, and it was an off day just as my schedule plans. It was when I woke up yesterday that I started to connect the dots and realize that I have had nightmares literally every night since starting this product. It's not as if they are night terrors, because this is nothing I have ever experienced. Simply, my dreams have been more vivd, and basically all that I can recall have been unpleasant to experience! Haha very strange, but it is what it is.

 

[ICJLM]

Day 5.5

Today will be what I call day 5.5
I decided not to dose BGH last night to see if the nightmarish dreams would go away, and they actually did. I cannot recall any moments last night where I had unpleasant dreams, and can't really recall any at this point whatsoever. I will continue to dose as normal, but just wanted to try that for a night. Today I am training shoulders, but I will also be benching in the beginning since I am now benching every three days; I figured it fits in well with a shoulder day anyhow. I'll report back either later or tomorrow on how this session goes.

 

[j1mb0]

Today will be what I call day 5.5
I decided not to dose BGH last night to see if the nightmarish dreams would go away, and they actually did. I cannot recall any moments last night where I had unpleasant dreams, and can't really recall any at this point whatsoever. I will continue to dose as normal, but just wanted to try that for a night. Today I am training shoulders, but I will also be benching in the beginning since I am now benching every three days; I figured it fits in well with a shoulder day anyhow. I'll report back either later or tomorrow on how this session goes.

Nice, shun. beat up dat bench!

 

[RenegadeRows]

I would drop my dose down to 3 or 4 caps, see if it stops.

Blue GrowtH is supposed to give you more vivid dreams. Better rest = better REM sleep

 

[ICJLM]

I guess I can just consider yesterday day 6 instead of 5.5
I will be playing around with the dosing, so I no longer expect this to last 30 days, but likely last more. I will probably bump the dose down to 3 or 4 as suggested by RenegadeRows. I did the ordinary 5 last night again.... and had unpleasant dreams once again! My dreams seem to always involve me trying to defend my life from some sort of evil person or supernatural being. It is kind of a stressful thing to deal with every night, and I can see how this could possibly be affecting my body poorly as I try to sleep. Damn, maybe I need to do some sort of Freudian analysis and try picking apart my subconscious via these weird ass dreams this stuff gives me.

On a different note, the shoulder workout went fine last night. Nothing spectacular. I hit all the numbers I needed to hit on flat bench first and then did a shoulder workout following this. I decided to overhead press since I haven't done that in soooooo long. The only time I do is a push press, but I wouldn't necessarily consider that a true overhead press since you can be so lax about the form. I was pretty happy about putting up 80 lb DBs for the seated overhead press after already doing heavy flat BB bench.

Today is an off day. Tomorrow, day 8, is lower body. So I will be squatting heavy tmrw, and hopefully will be ready to do so after still feeling a little beat up from deadlifts a few days ago. Stay tuned

 

[RenegadeRows]

I guess I can just consider yesterday day 6 instead of 5.5
I will be playing around with the dosing, so I no longer expect this to last 30 days, but likely last more. I will probably bump the dose down to 3 or 4 as suggested by RenegadeRows. I did the ordinary 5 last night again.... and had unpleasant dreams once again! My dreams seem to always involve me trying to defend my life from some sort of evil person or supernatural being. It is kind of a stressful thing to deal with every night, and I can see how this could possibly be affecting my body poorly as I try to sleep. Damn, maybe I need to do some sort of Freudian analysis and try picking apart my subconscious via these weird ass dreams this stuff gives me.

On a different note, the shoulder workout went fine last night. Nothing spectacular. I hit all the numbers I needed to hit on flat bench first and then did a shoulder workout following this. I decided to overhead press since I haven't done that in soooooo long. The only time I do is a push press, but I wouldn't necessarily consider that a true overhead press since you can be so lax about the form. I was pretty happy about putting up 80 lb DBs for the seated overhead press after already doing heavy flat BB bench.

Today is an off day. Tomorrow, day 8, is lower body. So I will be squatting heavy tmrw, and hopefully will be ready to do so after still feeling a little beat up from deadlifts a few days ago. Stay tuned

Sounds like my dreams I've gotten used to them, they happen frequently, but occasionally I'll have a dream that will wake me up. BGH or not too! There's always dream interpretations you can google as well. I've found alot of them to be accurate.

Do you find that your more energized during the day because of the better quality of rest from blue growth?

 

[ICJLM]

Sounds like my dreams I've gotten used to them, they happen frequently, but occasionally I'll have a dream that will wake me up. BGH or not too! There's always dream interpretations you can google as well. I've found alot of them to be accurate.

Do you find that your more energized during the day because of the better quality of rest from blue growth?

That's scary stuff, man. Regardless of whether we're adults, dreams can still creep you out. It really does suck to wake up feeling fear because of some silly dream. But the fact is, when you're asleep you can't usually discern between whether a dream is real or not. Your brain seems to just accept it as reality when you're asleep, so it can really trigger an unpleasant response in your mind and body.

I haven't felt particularly energized during the day just yet. I would say I feel the same as usual. On some days I have actually felt an increased desire to just continue to lay in bed even though my alarm is going off. It can be really tough to actually get myself out of bed. I do think the sleep is deeper though, and the increase in dreams does seem to be a bit of proof of this.

 

[mattrag]

I actually had those dreams on EndoSurge a Mucuna product. What part of Blue growth gives you those dreams I wonder?

Also, hows the bodycomp ? Notice anything?

And I assume you're eating to gain some strength, so are you in a small surplus?

 

[ICJLM]

I actually had those dreams on EndoSurge a Mucuna product. What part of Blue growth gives you those dreams I wonder?

Also, hows the bodycomp ? Notice anything?

And I assume you're eating to gain some strength, so are you in a small surplus?

I'm wondering the same. I've used a mucuna product before, but not one with such a high extract (I've used NOW's before). Could be anything though, so who knows?!!

I haven't noticed much in terms of body comp changes. It likely has not been long enough. And that reminds me, I need to post the before pics. I've had them on my comp but keep forgetting to get them posted. I'll probably do that now. And yes, I'm eating a surplus. I am as ectomorphic as they come, so I am always trying to gain.

 

[ICJLM]

So here's all the before pics I have been talking about:

 

[mattrag]

I'm wondering the same. I've used a mucuna product before, but not one with such a high extract (I've used NOW's before). Could be anything though, so who knows?!!

I haven't noticed much in terms of body comp changes. It likely has not been long enough. And that reminds me, I need to post the before pics. I've had them on my comp but keep forgetting to get them posted. I'll probably do that now. And yes, I'm eating a surplus. I am as ectomorphic as they come, so I am always trying to gain.

Man... I wish I was always aiming to gain lol. I'm always trying to lose... lol

 

[ICJLM]

Day 8 - Lower Body

Today was day 8 on BGH. I took 4 pills last night directly before bed and did not have any of the issues I have been talking about before. I'm going to try out 4 once again tonight. Today's workout was brutal. Squats are really what killed me. I basically wanted to be done by the time I finished squatting. Rather than work up past 315 lbs, I decided to stay there and shoot for more reps. On the first set, 315 felt heavy off the rack. I just did 3 reps cuz I was mad about the way it felt. I must not have gotten myself pumped up enough. On the next set I did 6 reps, and they were 6 difficult reps. During the eccentric part of the sixth rep, I thought my body was just going to collapse. By the time I got to the bottom of the rep and then first started the concentric portion, I felt like the lights were being turned off in my head. Things were honestly blurry, no lie. But once I got out of the hole and was close to lock out, the lights came back on haha. I then did 3 more sets of 5 reps. It was an all out war, and I know that I probably could not have worked any harder. Even though I would say 315 for 6 is better than 335 for 3, I still feel like I should have done better today. I needed my friend there to slap the hell outta my lats haha but I had a different friend spotting me today.
The rest of the workout went like this:
-BB Back Squats
-Leg Ext ss/Leg Press with close feet and low foot placement to emphasize quads
-Hip adductions ss/Hip abductions
-Single Leg Curl Mchn ss/Seated Calf Raise
-two brutal leg extension sets that I can explain if ur interested

I train chest tomorrow. It's gunna be a tough workout. The program I'm following has me doing 2 sets @255 for three reps, 2 sets @275 for two reps, and one heavy negative @305. Let's hope I can hit all the lifts!

 

[RenegadeRows]

Good pics my man, lookin ripped.

I think it's the Mucuana Pruriens in BGH that cause the dreams, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[ICJLM]

Day 9 - Chest

Yesterday was day 9 on the product. I dosed 4 pills again the night prior to this lift. On this day I had a reallllllly tough time getting out of bed. I was really tired all day, but I had only gotten six hours of sleep. School has been keeping me very busy lately. Our last day of classes before having a full week off is tomorrow (Friday). So there is a lot of work to do before I can be free for break!

The chest workout went well though. I hit all the lifts that I was supposed to hit for bench press. They were 2 sets of 3 reps @255, 2 sets of 2 reps @275, and then one heavy negative @305. I was able to complete all of the lifts just fine. In fact, my friend who I had spotting me said he wasn't even doing a whole lot on concentric part of the negative. My focus was simply on lowering the bar very slowly, but he said I basically did the positive portion on my own too. So I'm pretty happy about that. I know if I actually got focused and pumped up for it, I would be able to press 305. I'm just gunna stick to the program tho and progress as it tells me to. The rest of the workout was alright. Nothing too special to note.

 

[ICJLM]

Day 10 - Back

I trained back this evening. I went into this workout with my sights on pulling a heavy ass single on deads, so I did just that. Last night I only got about seven hours of sleep after tossing and turning in bed for about an hour, which is rare for me. So I was pretty darn tired this morning. I was actually extremely close to skipping my 9:25am class, but decided to drag my ass out of bed. It has been particularly hard to get out of bed lately. I was tired for much of the day too, and so decided to sneak in a little nap before eating again and hitting the weights.

I started out on deadlifts. Did a bunch of warmup sets. Finally ended up slapping 5 plates on each side for a total of 495 lbs. My previous 1RM PR was 460lbs. This was during July, and it was an alllllll out effort. A true 1RM indeed. That was 4 months ago tho, and I have progressed significantly during this time. 495 ended up being an absolute JOKE. It came off the ground so easy, and was also cake to lock out. I wouldn't even consider it a 1RM, altho it is still a PR for me. I decided to just stay there and save the heavier weights for another day. Needless to say, I'm very pleased about how the events of this session played out. I then followed up with some weighted pullups. Ended up strapping on an additional 80 lbs, which is not unusual for me on pullups. Then hit some cable rows. Then did a row mchn which I used to just retract my shoulder blades in order to hit rhomboids. Supersetted that with a pulldown. Then did some hanging bodyweight rows. Then some side cable pullins supersetted with another type of pulldown. Then stretched the crap out of my back.

Tonight is going to be another night of limited sleep. Probably about 6 hours. Thankfully tho after tonight I will get about ten days of sleeping in as much as I want! I'm really looking forward to this! Also, tomorrow will be a much needed day off, so I likely won't be recording any updates. Expect to hear from me again on Saturday! Stay tuned!!!!!!

 

[mattrag]

Good job on the deads man! Are you really only 190lbs!? Jeez that a 2.5x bw dead bro... that's SICK. I'm gonna try pull off 315 from the floor tomorrow... i don't think I've actually gotten any higher w/o being a PH.... Reps!

Interested in your supp history if you don't mind

 

[ICJLM]

Good job on the deads man! Are you really only 190lbs!? Jeez that a 2.5x bw dead bro... that's SICK. I'm gonna try pull off 315 from the floor tomorrow... i don't think I've actually gotten any higher w/o being a PH.... Reps!

Interested in your supp history if you don't mind

Thanks, guy! I'm actually weighing in closer to 200 lbs now. Last night after my workout I was 201 while still wearing my Vibrams, compression shorts, shorts, and a cutoff. My long-term goal is to have a 3xBW deadlift, 2.5x squat, and 2x bench. I really think those numbers are probably only about a year and half away. I thought it seemed like the distant future, but I realized that is quite attainable within ~18 months from now. The hardest for me will probably be the bench press. I have looooooooong ass arms so that makes it somewhat difficult; ain't gunna stop me tho! The long arms help with the deads thankfully, so I can't complain about that.

And I think it would almost be impossible to give you a full supplement history haha cuz I have taken soooooo much stuff it's ridiculous. I've tried just about every premier preworkout product on the market, tons of different proteins, many different creatines, different EFA products, several different multis, quite a few test boosters and anabolics, adaptogens, joint support stuff, and basically anything else u can think of... but no PHs or AAS! I've committed myself to being "natural" haha except its funny considering I take so many different supplements. As long as the OCB/IFPA approves, then I will basically try any supplement. I aspire to be an IFPA pro so I have always made sure to adhere to their guidelines.

And for your deadlift today; if you've done the weight before then there's no reason you can't do it again! It's mind over matter. "Ain't nothin' to it but to do it." I have found that people are far stronger than they think. You simply need to get in the right mindset, and you will be able to shock yourself with the feats of strength you are capable of. Just gotta eliminate any doubt from your mind!

 

[RenegadeRows]

Looking good my man. I have a tough time w sleep too. I work at 4am, so I wake at 3. Thankfully BGH helps get me to bed and stay asleep.I think you can def achieve your goal. You have a solid foundation and your highly motivated. Great. Numbers on the deads man.

 

[ICJLM]

Looking good my man. I have a tough time w sleep too. I work at 4am, so I wake at 3. Thankfully BGH helps get me to bed and stay asleep.I think you can def achieve your goal. You have a solid foundation and your highly motivated. Great. Numbers on the deads man.

Thanks for the kind words, mah dude. Damn, it sounds like you're on a whole different sleep schedule!

 

[ICJLM]

Day 12 - Shoulders

Yesterday was day 12 on BGH. It was my first training session at my gym back home now that I am on Thanksgiving break. I trained shoulders as planned, and started out bench pressing to try to hit the numbers of my program. I had to hit a set of six reps @235, two sets of five reps @250, and finally two sets of four reps @260. Each set was a success, so I'm pleased with that. The rest of the workout was a bit rushed because I was pressed for time. My friend competed in a bodybuilding show last night, so I had to make sure to go watch that.

 

[ICJLM]

Day 13 - Off

This was an off day as planned. Tomorrow (11/21) will be back to day 1 of the training split, so I will be hitting lower body. I'll be squatting for the first time in a while at home, and for the first time at home since breaking my "mental barrier." Last night was my first time dosing back at 5 pills of BGH after doing a week at 4 pills. I slept extremely well, and woke up feeling refreshed. It is nice to be back in my queen sized bed at home, and not in a small, overly-heated dorm room. Plus I have no worries over break so my mind can actually get some rest and I have time for 9+ hours of sleep. Gunna take another five now and get to sleep. I'll report back about legs tomorrow.

 

[j1mb0]

Yesterday was day 12 on BGH. It was my first training session at my gym back home now that I am on Thanksgiving break. I trained shoulders as planned, and started out bench pressing to try to hit the numbers of my program. I had to hit a set of six reps @235, two sets of five reps @250, and finally two sets of four reps @260. Each set was a success, so I'm pleased with that. The rest of the workout was a bit rushed because I was pressed for time. My friend competed in a bodybuilding show last night, so I had to make sure to go watch that.

yeah buddy, get it

 

[RenegadeRows]

This was an off day as planned. Tomorrow (11/21) will be back to day 1 of the training split, so I will be hitting lower body. I'll be squatting for the first time in a while at home, and for the first time at home since breaking my "mental barrier." Last night was my first time dosing back at 5 pills of BGH after doing a week at 4 pills. I slept extremely well, and woke up feeling refreshed. It is nice to be back in my queen sized bed at home, and not in a small, overly-heated dorm room. Plus I have no worries over break so my mind can actually get some rest and I have time for 9+ hours of sleep. Gunna take another five now and get to sleep. I'll report back about legs tomorrow.

Can't wait! Don't let the monsters in ur dreams ruin your gains!!! lol jk

 

[ICJLM]

yeah buddy, get it

Oh hey there, James.

Can't wait! Don't let the monsters in ur dreams ruin your gains!!! lol jk

Haha! Thankfully I haven't encountered any monsters for quite a while now. The nightmares have been replaced by strange, vivid dreams that are simply more bizarre than they are scary. I think the nightmares a week ago were probably a result of stress, which I usually tend to manage better.

 

[ICJLM]

Day 14 - Lower Body

I trained lower body this evening as planned. I was not entirely happy with the workout, but almost expected that because I tend to lose motivation when I come home. I think it's because at school I know tons of people in the gym, so I can have a friend pump me up before a set. That is a very valuable thing to have. At home, not many of my friends train at the same gym as me, and those who do were not there at the same time as me tonight. Also, there are rarely any chicks in the weight room at home, which kinda sucks haha. The bar was feeling really heavy on my back today every time I took it off the rack. I worked up to 275 on the squat, but it was feeling like 315 weighing down on me. I just did 4 sets of 5 at this weight. I saw it kind of a as a needed deload on legs because I'm going to continue to hit it hard on the bench to keep up with the program I'm following. So having a less intense day was needed. I was still laboring hard for sure, but was not trying to absolutely kill it like usual. Tomorrow is my next day on the bench, so I need to make sure I bring my A game and hit all my lifts.

 

[ICJLM]

I trained chest today, and had a pretty nice lift all around. Started on flat bench, just like I have been doing lately so I can make sure I hit all the lifts on this program I'm following. It's been nice to hit each set every time without any issues, and today was no exception. Did two sets of 3 reps @265 lbs, two sets of 2 reps @280 lbs, and then one heavy negative @310 lbs. Just like last time I had to do a negative, the weight didn't feel tremendously heavy when I took it off the rack and lowered it. That was a good feeling, because I know I will actually be pressing those big weights in the very near future.

I followed this up w some machine flies supersetted with a behind head cable tricep extension. Next I used the hammer strength "flat bench" machine and did some different fun stuff w that. Then I hit some standing cable flies. Then skullcrushers supersetted with a floor press at the smith machine.

I've been sleeping like a friggin bear these past few nights. I'm back up to five pills a night and have all the time in the world to sleep. It has been quite a treat. I train back tomorrow. My plan is to start with all of my upper back movements and then leave deadlifts for last. I'm not necessarily trying to go tremendously heavy on deads tmrw, so I'm just gunna save 'em for last and hit them w whatever I've got left in me at that point. It will be a nice way for me to back off a bit, and give my CNS some relief. Stay tuned for tomorrow's update....

 

[RenegadeRows]

Glad to hear your sleeping well bro. And i know exactly what you mean bout the weird dreams & stress!!!

I'm sooo looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow Tryptophan & BGH here I come !!!

 

[ICJLM]

Day 21 - Lower Body

It's getting to be crunch time as this semester winds to a close. Needless to say, I've been very busy, but am still training hard. I have stuck to my training schedule with the exception of yesterday. Instead of training legs, it ended up being an unplanned rest day, but it was a nice relief. I instead hit legs tonight (Monday, 10/28).

I wasn't particularly motivated going into this training session, and didn't take my usual dose of White Flood because I didn't wanna take it so late in the evening. However, I ended up working up to some heavy weights on the squat; ones I've actually never even touched before. After warming up extensively, I slapped 315 on there and just did an easy 3 reps because I wanted to save some gas in the tank. I put on 355 and did a single with that. Then I put on 365, and did a single with that weight as well. That one was definitely a struggle, but I still hit proper depth and did not require any help whatsoever from my spotter. I was pretty happy about this considering I've never even gone heavier than 335 before tonight. This lift was a lot like my 495 deadlift in that neither day I went into the gym feeling extremely amped up about my workout. So, I'm wondering what I could do on a well-rested day where I am psyched about my lift and have a heavy dose of White Flood pulsating through my body. I may consider trying some all-out effort 1RMs in the near future.

Tomorrow I have chest. I am still following the same program, and have been keeping up with all the progressions. I am confident that I will continue to do so without a problem as I get deeper and deeper into the program; which would be sick considering it adds 25 lbs to my previous max in only six weeks!!! Stay tuned for tomorrow's update. Hopefully I will have time, because it is going to be a very busy day!

 

[mattrag]

I guess you just needed to get in the zone! Hehe. Could be that the later workout allowed you to eat more and get more energy towards the workout?
And end of semester time watch the stress levels as well. LIfting heavy while stressed is not so good for the body

Keep killing it man! 365 is one hell of a squat!

 

[RenegadeRows]

awesome numbers on those squats baby, keep killin it!

 

[ICJLM]

Damn, so I've let myself get really backed up here. Been really busy with schoolwork lately, and still trying to hit it hard in the gym. When I first stopped posting about a week ago, you guys were mentioning how I need to be careful when stress begins to accumulate... well you were right. That next day I ended up straining my left pec during warmups! I couldn't go about my planned workout, which was awful. I didn't know what to do from that point on either knowing that I had a hurt pec, yet I was supposed to bench again in three days. I knew I couldn't continue to follow that benching program anymore, so I decided I may as well go back to my old power/hypertrophy program. I think the injury occurred simply from overuse. I was benching twice every six days, and was using weights around 90% my max everytime. It was just way too much, so there was no reason to let the minor injury heal when it would likely happen again shortly after.

Glad I went back to my old split. It really is great. I enjoy each and every workout. It is an 8 day rotation in which I workout on 7 of those days. Each day is drastically different, so it's a lot of fun. Today I hit lower body, and started out with some heavy squats. This is actually my first notable workout that u guys would find exciting. I did five sets of five reps on squat with 325 lbs. It was definitely tough. The rest of the workout was pure hell. Then hit four sets of a leg extension / leg press superset. Then four more sets of a leg curl / different leg press superset. Soooooo brutal. By this point I was actually on the verge of vomiting.

Oh, and when I reverted back to my old routine, I started training w a new partner! The kid is an absolute beast, but he wanted to change up his very traditional style of training to get some better results. Tomorrow we will be hitting back for hypertrophy. Hopefully I have time for an update, but damn have I been busy!

Oh, and I recently messed up my laptop, which I'm extremely upset about. When I was getting out of the show I got like literally a couple drops of water on the trackpad on my macbook, so now the pad doesn't work well at all. It spazzes out like crazy, and will sometimes erase everything I write. I am doing this from my phone bc I know I would freak out if my comp deleted this at some pt during writing. So the formatting of this may be weird. Also I don't really wanna briefly proofread this either, haha so sorry if I made some mistakes.

 

[mattrag]

Damn, so I've let myself get really backed up here. Been really busy with schoolwork lately, and still trying to hit it hard in the gym. When I first stopped posting about a week ago, you guys were mentioning how I need to be careful when stress begins to accumulate... well you were right. That next day I ended up straining my left pec during warmups! I couldn't go about my planned workout, which was awful. I didn't know what to do from that point on either knowing that I had a hurt pec, yet I was supposed to bench again in three days. I knew I couldn't continue to follow that benching program anymore, so I decided I may as well go back to my old power/hypertrophy program. I think the injury occurred simply from overuse. I was benching twice every six days, and was using weights around 90% my max everytime. It was just way too much, so there was no reason to let the minor injury heal when it would likely happen again shortly after.

Glad I went back to my old split. It really is great. I enjoy each and every workout. It is an 8 day rotation in which I workout on 7 of those days. Each day is drastically different, so it's a lot of fun. Today I hit lower body, and started out with some heavy squats. This is actually my first notable workout that u guys would find exciting. I did five sets of five reps on squat with 325 lbs. It was definitely tough. The rest of the workout was pure hell. Then hit four sets of a leg extension / leg press superset. Then four more sets of a leg curl / different leg press superset. Soooooo brutal. By this point I was actually on the verge of vomiting.

Oh, and when I reverted back to my old routine, I started training w a new partner! The kid is an absolute beast, but he wanted to change up his very traditional style of training to get some better results. Tomorrow we will be hitting back for hypertrophy. Hopefully I have time for an update, but damn have I been busy!

Oh, and I recently messed up my laptop, which I'm extremely upset about. When I was getting out of the show I got like literally a couple drops of water on the trackpad on my macbook, so now the pad doesn't work well at all. It spazzes out like crazy, and will sometimes erase everything I write. I am doing this from my phone bc I know I would freak out if my comp deleted this at some pt during writing. So the formatting of this may be weird. Also I don't really wanna briefly proofread this either, haha so sorry if I made some mistakes.

I find that I have to drop my weight to around 60% of my max at least one of the two times I lift a week. (On the same lift obviously). Two session of 85%+ really kills my strength and recovery. I basically cant do more than 2 days of 85%+ its just not possible.... haha.
Im thinking of adopting a form of power/hyper. What program were you looking at?

 

[ICJLM]

I find that I have to drop my weight to around 60% of my max at least one of the two times I lift a week. (On the same lift obviously). Two session of 85%+ really kills my strength and recovery. I basically cant do more than 2 days of 85%+ its just not possible.... haha.
Im thinking of adopting a form of power/hyper. What program were you looking at?

Exactly, it simply is not possible for us to train with weights that heavy multiple times a week without the assistance of banned substances. Or perhaps unless you have EVERY piece of your bodybuilding lifestyle in place. This includes minimizing stress, which simply is not a possibility for me right now, and I need to accept that.

Ya, dude, definitely consider power/hyp training. I think it is very effective. If you are methodical about planning your workouts, it basically ensures that you get both stronger and bigger at all times. The way I do it is a bit different, but hear me out! Mainly, I don't like to divide up the two power days by upper body and lower body. Let me first explain what I dislike about this approach. I think having a power upper body day would require way more exercises than a power lower body day. For a power lower body day I feel like there isn't much more you can do other than squatting, leg pressing, and heavy extensions/curls. Some ppl may opt to deadlift here, but I think that involves more upper body than lower body, or at least with my style of deadlifting. So that is another issue: where you throw in exercise like deads, hang cleans, push press, and so on.

The way I do it is an 8-day rotation where my first two days are my power days that basically end up hitting everything by the end. On day one I focus on chest, quads, and some front delt. The next day is posterior chain, so I focus on hams, calves, and back -which includes rear delt.
The first day I like to hit a heavy bb press, be it either incline, flat, or decline. Then I want one heavy chest isolation as well, so I do heavy machine flies. I often will superset this with a BB overhead press partial to overload tris, which also hits some front delt. Then I do CGBP supersetted with a heavy DB front raise in which I allow myself to cheat a lot, but it allows me to be more explosive. Then I do push press. Then I do a heavy leg press where I have a low and close foot placement; this particular style and machine allows me to get most of then tension on my quads. Then I do heavyass extensions and call it a day.
The second power day I typically start with heavy deads from the ground. Then I will normally hang clean and superset that with a lighter deadlift from a deficit in which I focus on explosion. I sometimes make that a triple superset by throwing in heavyass leg curls. Then I do one heavy vertical pull and one heavy horizontal pull. I often superset those with calves, since I have long rest times between pulls anyhow.

Note also that these days can be quite a bit more complicated because of the variation I use. Sometimes I will stay away from floor deads for a bit and go heavy from a deficit or a rack. Likewise, I often rotate between the types of heavy bb benching I start with on day 1. So it all depends, but this is a very comprehensive routine. I feel doing the power days in this fashion eliminates much of the overlap, and keeps the days about the same length. For the next five days after, I train with a more traditional bodybuilding approach that focuses more on achieving hypertrophy. Then the eighth day is finally a rest day. This split always gives me sick gains.

Today is day 6/8 of the split. I will be training just back, and am leaving for the gym very soon. I'll tell more about this session later.

 

[ICJLM]

Yesterday's Back workout was nothing out of the ordinary. Did a lot of intense supersetting and whatnot as usual. Yesterday I actually ended up not being that sore, which was surprising considering the crazy leg workout I had the day prior. Since I started my old routine back up again, I have been training with a buddy of mine. The kid absolutely blows me out of the water. He is a fukkin meatstick, but he is pretty short. Still though, he wanted to change up his training since it was all pretty basic, yet he has made tremendous gains. I let him hop on board with me once I started the old power/hyp routine back up. He is keeping up fine with the workouts, but he is getting some goodass DOMs. Yesterday when we were doing back he said his legs were literally sore everywhere. Up and down his entire quad, up and down his entire hamstring, and so on. I was not very sore though. Could be the Blue GrowtH at work, helping to fight DOMs!

 

[mattrag]

Man that is one MEAN workout.. I wonder if I should adjust to that. It seems to be doing you really well.

Super setting power movements. You don't feel your CNS to be over taxed? I used to do a training scheme like this but I felt I burnt out too fast. Granted I was heavy dieted at the time...
How do your hypertrophy days look? Similar to Layne Norton's template? Supersetted movements 8-12 rep range? Plus some dynamics? Or do you skip the dynamic effort work ?(Seein you have some on the power days)

 

[ICJLM]

Day 31 - Arms

I went back through the log and figured out that today is day 31 on BGH. I still have about 15 pills remaining, so this log is coming to a close. I have mostly been sticking to the 5 pill dose but sometimes bring it down to 4 pills. For instance, last night I took 4 because I knew I would only be getting about six hours of sleep. I thought maybe avoiding the higher dose would prevent any type of "hangover" effect. I have noticed that I have a tougher time getting up when my alarm goes off. There were many days where I contemplated skipping classes and just sleeping in, but I would never allow myself to do that. It was just extra difficult to get out of bed. During the day though, I never feel tired. Once I'm up, I'm up. This is such a drastic difference compared to when I was on Compound 20 a couple months ago. That crap made me feel like straight azzhole. That stuff was complete garbage. When I was on that stuff, the only thing I could think about during the day was crawling into my bed and sleeping. Now on BGH, I am back to feeling like a million bucks during the day.

I hit bis and tris today in the gym. It's the last day of the split before my one rest day tomorrow. We just felt like wrecking our arms, so we ended up doing quite a bit. We started with cross body hammer curls supersetted with a tricep pushdown at the cables. Next we did one arm DB preacher curls with fatgripz attached, supersetted with overhead DB tri extensions. Next we supersetted reverse grip EZ bar curls with skullcrushers on an incline. Then we hit a machine for bis and supersetted with a machine for tris. Then we did some curls at the two cables with a high handle attachment, supersetted with a pushdown variation performed at the assisted pullup/dip machine. We sat down on the stairs leading up to the assistance apparatus, and pushed down on the part where your feet go when the machine helps to lift u.... if that makes sense..?

Had a nice pump throughout the training session, and ended up moving some good weight. Got a lot of compliments in the gym today. Like, a lot. Always a good feeling. That's all for now. Tonnnnsssss of school work to do. Oh well, ain't nuthin' to it but to do it!

 

[ICJLM]

Man that is one MEAN workout.. I wonder if I should adjust to that. It seems to be doing you really well.

Super setting power movements. You don't feel your CNS to be over taxed? I used to do a training scheme like this but I felt I burnt out too fast. Granted I was heavy dieted at the time...
How do your hypertrophy days look? Similar to Layne Norton's template? Supersetted movements 8-12 rep range? Plus some dynamics? Or do you skip the dynamic effort work ?(Seein you have some on the power days)

I include more dynamic work on the power days. I consider them to be power/speed/explosiveness/dynamic days. I think it fits better with this lifting scheme. Then, yes, on the hypertrophy days I do a lot more supersetting and have much lengthier sets. And yes, it can be too much sometimes if I keep hitting it hard week in and week out. You will hear about this in my next post.

 

[ICJLM]

So on monday, I trained my back/hams/calves power day. At least I attempted to train. I ended up getting hurt pretty badly. The previous night actually happened to be my last dose of BGH. I'm obviously not attributing my injury to BGH whatsoever. It is entirely my own fault, because I have been overdoing it in the gym for a while now. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it in this log, but my left lat has been feeling very tight the past several weeks. It can be quite painful while stretching, and I feel the stretching pain all the way through my triceps as well. As I have mentioned in here multiple times, my pec on the same side has gotten strained as well. My lat felt really strange last week during my weighted pullups, but I've just been lifting through it.

Judging by my minor pec injury, and tightness in my lat, I knew I drastically needed some type of deload or time off. I absolutely needed it. I kept putting it off though, because I just wanted to keep pushing hard until the end of this semester. But now I'm paying the price.

So I'll tell ya what happened on Monday. I went in and planned to have an ordinary workout. Started off with some deadlifts. Got in my extensive warmups as usual. That day I decided to deadlift from a slight deficit just to change it up. I got to 315 which is nothing for me, and probably only did 4 reps or so since I was still warming up. Then put on 365 and did 3 easy reps just so I didn't have to make the drastic jump from 315 to 405. My lat felt a little tight after this set, but nothing drastic so I didn't really think anything of it. I just stretched it out a little more after I slapped on 405 so I figured it would be fine. So once I got to my set of 405, I really didn't have any target number of reps in mind. Since I was pulling from a deficit, I wasn't sure what to expect for my rep range. Rep one: easy. Rep two: easy. Rep three: easy.... Then came rep four. I felt fine in the moment before this rep, but as soon as it left the ground I felt my left lat contracting spastically. It was one of those moment where I kind of forgot what happened because I was so angry. But, I think I stopped in the middle of the rep when it was about six inches off the ground so I could think to myself, what the f*k is my lat doing right now? Then I kind of realized, damn, I need to drop this bar right now. So I let it hit the ground, and I'm pretty sure I shouted "F*CK" really loud and just ran down in the locker room. At least a friend who was on a nearby bench told me I did haha. My lat was extremely tight, and I had a tough time performing any type of movement with that arm. It was just such a strange experience. The only way I can describe it is that my lat was rapidly contracting on its own, almost as if to alarm me of the potential injury that I would acquire if I were to continue.

It definitely could have been a lot worse, had I completed the rep. I was just pissed cuz the weight felt extremely easy, so it sucks getting hurt with relatively simple weights. It's kind of like when I hurt my pec during warmups for bench. My body has been sending me signs for a while now that are basically saying "back the hell off!" But I haven't wanted to listen. Instead, I've put myself in this stupid situation. I will now be taking probably two weeks off of ANY upper body resistance training. Rather, I could have just done a deload week, or a week off, but now I have to do this crap instead. Oh well; you live, you learn.

When I woke up on Tuesday, my lat felt pretty bad, but slightly better than Monday night. As Tuesday progressed I just kept feeling better and better as the hours passed by. Then yesterday the same was true. I was able to much easily carry out most tasks. Then today is the same; I just keep getting better and better. I eat a pretty ridiculously healthy diet, so the recovery should hopefully come quickly. Plus my body will probably really take advantage of this time off... But seriously, on monday after it happened, basically every kind of activity hurt. Sitting down, Standing up, Showering, Eating, Climbing stairs, and dressing was an absolute pain in the you know what. I actually ended up ripping off my cutoff that I wore to the gym that day because I could not get it off. Now, everything is fine to do again, but it definitely does still hurt at certain points. I never realized how often your lats are activated during activities of daily living.

Soooooooo, this also means I am done with BGH now, and have been for a few days. I wanna try to get up a final review, but I'm having a tough time thinking of what to judge it on. I'll probably write a little something later on tonight, because I have a pretty free day today on this lovely Thursday.