AndrewNico's Bulking Alpha Mass Log (Not Sponsored)

[AndrewNico]

Hey guys, picked up 2 bottles and will be dosing 6 caps / day and will most likely bump up as needed. As the title implies, Im bulking.

Currently around 180lb, %bf ≈ 13%
before pictures have been taken :








Too lazy to list out my current lifts, so I'll just let my 1st week of this give you that info. From what Ive seen, there is not too much going on in the first week anyway. I only plan on listing my working sets.

Diet is very consistent; it's about 3600 cals, 350g carbs / 255g pro / 130g fat. Might even bump it up soon.
Food sources are: protein powder, golden gains, chicken breast, olive oil, natty pb, pistachios, pasta, oats, whole wheat bread (no HFCS)


I actually started this up yesterday before a chest and arms hypertrophy workout.

WORKOUT

Flat Bench
225x10, 225x9 +1, 225x9 +1, 235x4 (pause reps), 235x3 (pause reps)

Incline Bench
185x8, 185x8, 185x6 +1

Incline Skull Crushers
80x20, 80x15

Seated dB Bicep Curls
25x15, 25x15

Standing dB Hammer Curls
25x15, 25x15

Tricep Cable Pushdowns (V bar)
57.5x15, 57.5x15, 57.5x15

Ticep Cable Kickbacks
10x10, 25x6, 20x8


NOTES

So today I noticed that I have some hair shedding. I could just be paranoid, but Im sure when my hair is this short I never shed. Going to keep an eye on this and might have to pull the plug early if it gets worse. I have never had any trouble with my hair before, FYI.

[Royd The Noyd]

How long have you been running it?

[AndrewNico]

Started yesterday with 6 caps.

[AndrewNico]

Sick day today. Nice weather, epic lifting . . . aint even mad I had to stay an hour late at work

THE WORKOUT

Front Squats
225x8, 225x6 +2, 225x6 +2

Leg Press (plates / side)
5x8, 7x8, 8x6 => legs were totally destroyed

Seated Hamstring Curls
210x8, 210x7, 190x7 drop 130x8

Standing Machine Calf Raises (rack = 20)
20x8, x8, x8

Fascia Stretching Work: Seated Leg Extensions
70x100 => holy mother of god . . . quads.were.done.

Deep stretching for ~7 minutes

NOTES
Just felt amazing today. Went out for lunch at work for a coworker, all you can eat bombers (a burrito joint). Kept it relatively clean with chicken, flour tortillas, rice, a little cheese, and a little sour cream. Definitely ate a lot (8 mini burritos), so i was pretty much dead at work for the rest of the day, haha. Took a scoop of neurocore (freakin loving this stuff), 2.5g of bulk beta alanine, 2.5g bulk citrulline malate, and 2.5g of LCLT. Was sweatin up a storm during front squats . . . pretty much my limiting factor for the exercise is not being able to breath with the weight across my upper chest / shoulders.

On a good note, I definitely was being paranoid yesterday with my shedding concern. Didnt notice much of anything today, so while Im not going to dismiss it entirely, but Im sure I exaggerated a bit yesterday. Good news indeed.

Im currently dosing the alpha mass 3 caps with meal 1 and 3 caps with my last meal. I might switch things around and try outa preworkout dose / split doses more / add more caps . . . but that will all come with time.

Should also note that Im taking orange triad and fish oil (2g of combined EPA/DHA per day) for joint health. The OT isn't necessarily for the product, just because I was having trouble with my right knee for the past few weeks. Couple days on it and my knee already feels better . Also dropping down 2g of celery seed daily to deal with any potential BP issues. High BP runs in my family, so I do my best to keep it down.

Why no questions??? da fuk.

[mattrag]

Subbed. Too early for the compound to show yet IMO.
Questions... Maybe what else have you run? And interesting training style.

[TheBGRigatoni]

Sub bro

[AndrewNico]

Subbed. Too early for the compound to show yet IMO.
Questions... Maybe what else have you run? And interesting training style.

Yeah I agree
Have run 1 cycle halodrol (halovar) for 6 weeks back about 18 months ago. Made huge strength gains I couldnt keep (was still sort of dumb with training / diet), but other than that it was a nice experience. After that I decided to strictly train natty to build up my knowledge of training and diet.
My training is modified from PHAT. Certain things I omit and others I added in because my body responds well to them.

Sub bro

coolstorybro


Today was a good day, did upper body

THE WORKOUT

Incline Bench
225x5, 230x5(PR), 235x3, 235x2.5 drop 225x1.5

Seated dB Shoulder Press
90x5, 95x3, 95x fail, 90x4

Hammer Strength Underhand Lat Pulldown (plates / side)
3x5, 3x5, 3x4.5 drop 2x8 drop 1x12

Flat dB Flys
65x8, x8, x8

Close Grip Parallel Attachment Lat Pulldowns
200x5, x5, x5

FST 7 Training: Lateral dB Raises
35x12
35x12
35x12
27.5x12
27.5x12
20x20
20x15 +5 (or so) forced reps

NOTES
Incline bench felt stronger than usual today. Usually do my working sets at 230x4 +1, today I managed to get that 5th rep. Everything else is standard. 7's were just awesome as usual.
Nothing else new. Diet was consistent with the usual 3600 cals. This is getting bumped up as soon as my vasolate gets here . . . mmmm

additionally, this is my new favorite motivation video / lifting song

[TheBGRigatoni]

Yeah I agree
Have run 1 cycle halodrol (halovar) for 6 weeks back about 18 months ago. Made huge strength gains I couldnt keep (was still sort of dumb with training / diet), but other than that it was a nice experience. After that I decided to strictly train natty to build up my knowledge of training and diet.
My training is modified from PHAT. Certain things I omit and others I added in because my body responds well to them.



coolstorybro


Today was a good day, did upper body

THE WORKOUT

Incline Bench
225x5, 230x5(PR), 235x3, 235x2.5 drop 225x1.5

Seated dB Shoulder Press
90x5, 95x3, 95x fail, 90x4

Hammer Strength Underhand Lat Pulldown (plates / side)
3x5, 3x5, 3x4.5 drop 2x8 drop 1x12

Flat dB Flys
65x8, x8, x8

Close Grip Parallel Attachment Lat Pulldowns
200x5, x5, x5

FST 7 Training: Lateral dB Raises
35x12
35x12
35x12
27.5x12
27.5x12
20x20
20x15 +5 (or so) forced reps

NOTES
Incline bench felt stronger than usual today. Usually do my working sets at 230x4 +1, today I managed to get that 5th rep. Everything else is standard. 7's were just awesome as usual.
Nothing else new. Diet was consistent with the usual 3600 cals. This is getting bumped up as soon as my vasolate gets here . . . mmmm

additionally, this is my new favorite motivation video / lifting song

like this chit right here dammit

[AndrewNico]

Hit arms today. Sweet lift session; went heavy for the power exercises and then switched over to hypertrophy for da pumpz

THE WORKOUT

CGBP
225x5, 230x4, 230x4, 225x4 +1

Seated dB Tricep Extension
100x5, 110x5, 105x5

Overhead Cable Tricep Extensions (Rope)
57.5x12, 65x12, 65x12, 65x12

Seated dB bicep curls (alternating)
60x5, 60x3 +4 swinging, 60x3 +3 swinging

Seated dB bicep curls (simultaneous) on incline bench
30x10, 30x12, 30x13

Standing Reverse Curls (half reps for bottom part of movement, removing shoulders)
50x13, 50x13, 50x13, 50x13

Spider Curls on incline bench (straight bar)
40x15, 40x15, 40x15, 40x15

FST 7 Training: Standing Bicep Curls (straight bar)
50x12
50x12
50x12
50x12
50x12
50x12
50x12 => forearms, biceps, everything dead.

Deep stretching for ~5 minutes


NOTES
Nothing too much to note today. Appetite is pretty low, I need to switch up my standard pasta+chicken+olive oil meals or Im going to start throwing up, :\.

[AndrewNico]

Another sick workout today, did legs and killed it.

THE WORKOUT

Back Squats (only down past parallel, not ATG ... my knees do not like ATGs)
335x4, 335x4, 335x3 (Rep PR)

Box Squats with Cambered Bar (down to parallel)
225x8, 225x8, 225x8

Hamstring Raises
bw x8, x8, x8

Standing Calf Raise Machine (rack = 20)
rack x8, x8, x10, 10x8 (5 seconds down, 15 seconds at bottom, 1 second up)

Seated Calf Raises (plates / side)
1x13, x13, x13

Hammer Strength Independent Hamstring Curl Machine
100x8, x8, x8


Deep stretching for ~10 minutes

NOTES
Squats felt awesome today. Last time I did back squats I was in the UNC weight room with no music, no spot, and a different bar. Barely did 315x3x3 that day. Always amazing me how much of my lifts are mental. Anyway, not too much else to note. Sunday will be my first weigh in at the 7 day mark, so we'll see how I did the first week (I don't expect anything crazy, maybe 1-2lbs)

[AndrewNico]

Saturday was an off day. Ate a lot of corned beef and veggies.

Today is the 1 week mark. Weighed myself this morning after urination:

Weight: 183lbs (+3lbs)

More than I expected. Not too shabby.

Did Chest and Tris today . . . was awesome.

THE WORKOUT

Flat Bench
225x10, 225x10, 225x10 (Yeaaa finally did it), 245x3 +1 (pause reps)

Incline Bench
185x8, 185x8, 185x8

Decline Cable Flys
35x12, 35x13, 35x10, 25x20

Incline dB Flys
30x15, 30x15, 30x15

Tricep Cable Pushdowns (Vbar)
65x15, 65x15, 65x15

dB Skullcrushers on Flat Bench
25x8, 30x8, 27.5x8 (pretty weak on these, I think I've done them once before over the past 3 years)

Tricep Cable Kickbacks
15x13, 15x12, 15x12

Deep stretching for ~7 minutes

NOTES
Finally got my 225x10x3 done. Been working on that for a few weeks now, always got to 9 or 8 on the last 2 sets. Feltgoodman. Strength overall seemed to be up today (very slightly though). Maybe kicking in? Who knows.

[AndrewNico]

Hit up legs and lower back today. Starting to get back into regular deadlifts since I want to increase strength in that area again.

THE WORKOUT

Deadlifts
135x8, 225x5, 315x2, 405x1, 455x1, 485x0, 455x1 drop 405x3 => meh, not bad for not having done them in a month or so

Leg Press (plates / side)
7x5, 8x5, 8(+25lbs)x5 (PR), 6x10

SLDL (go ahead, tell me doing two deadlift exercises is wrong . . . not a single f**k will be given)
135x8, 225x5, 275x3, 315x10, 315x4 => lower back failure

Seated Calf Raises (plates / side)
1x15, 1x15, 1x15

Seated Calf Machine (toes pointing in)
270x8, 200x15, 200x15, 200x15, 200x15

Standing Calf Raise Machine
13x8 (5 sec down, 15 sec bottom, 2 sec up)

Fascia Stretching Work: Seated Leg Extensions
75x113 => mother of god, legs stopped working, instant quad cramps as soon as I stepped off the machine

Deep Stretching for ~7 minutes => ahh, all quad cramps gone


NOTES
Again, not too much to note. Nothing standing out from normal gains, we're still early though. I'm guessing by the end of this week things will start to get much better

[AndrewNico]

Did upper body today. Was a so-so day, nothing great, nothing bad

THE WORKOUT

Incline Bench
235x4, 235x3 +1, 225x3 +1

Seated dB Shoulder Press
90x4.5, 90x4.5, 90x4

Hammer Strength Lat Pulldown Underhand (plates / side)
3x5, 3(+5lbs)x5, 3(+5lbs)x4 drop 2(+25lbs)x5 drop 2x10

CGBP
225x6, 225x5, 225x5

Rear Delt Cables (single arm)
30x13, 30x10, 25x13

FST 7 Training: Seated dB Lateral Raises
25x16
25x16
25x16
20x16
20x16
20x15
20x18 +5 or 6 assisted reps = delts were non-functioning

Deep Stretching for ~8 minutes

NOTES
Again, nothing really to note. No change in mood or strength. I can see I've put a bit of size on (weighed in at 189 post workout, clothed), but nothing crazy. Off day tomorrow and then legs on friday. BTW, the days I don't post I take off . . . in case anyone was curious.

[AndrewNico]

So, been sort of busy the past couple of days, time for da updates

Friday was legs day. shaking legs were had at the end of the day

THE WORKOUT

Front Squats
235x8, 235x8, 225x8

Leg Press (plates / side)
6x5, 7x5, 6x10

SLDL on Smyth Machine (weight added)
140x10, 140x10, 140x10

Seated Calf Raises (plates / side)
1x15, 1.5x15, 1x15

Standing Calf Raises (rack = 20)
rack x10, x10, x9, 10x8 (5 sec down, 15 sec bottom, 2 sec up)


Deep Stretching for ~6 minutes

NOTES
Made some progress from last week with my front squats, but I had about a minute more of rest each time this go around. Still, more weight lifted = more weight lifted. Hams and lower back were still kind of sore from my previous legs day earlier in the week so I went sort of light and concentrated my hams with the smyth machine. Calves, as always, were on fire upon completion.


Saturday (yesterday) was shoulders and back

THE WORKOUT

Seated Shoulder Press
185x3, 185x3, 185x3, 185x2.5, 180x3, 180x2 +1, 180x3 +1

Side Lateral dB Raises
25x12, 30x12, 30x12, 30x12

Rear Delt Machine (I do 1 arm at a time)
160x15, 190x15, 190x15, 190x15

Seated Front dB Raises
30x10, 30x10, 30x10

Speed Work: Bent Over BB Rows
195x3, x3, x3, x3, x3, x3

Pullups
bw x10, x10, x7 +2 +1

Seated Cables Rows (close grip)
100x15, 120x15, 110x15

Hammer Strength Lat Pulldown Underhand Grip (weight / side)
70x15, 70x15

Deep Stretching for ~5 minutes


NOTES
I haven't had a good shoulder/back workout in a few weeks due to schedule bs, but I did better than I thought I would with it. Tried out my wrist wraps for the workout yesterday, the things are awesome (I got the GASP ones). Perfect for anyone who's had wrist problems in the past like myself.


DOSAGE
I've been steady at 6 caps a day 3 am, 3 pm. I was thinking about bumping it up to 9 since not much is going on after 2 weeks. Thoughts?

[AndrewNico]

Hit chest and arms today. Pretty good workout; I started shifting my flat bench from hypertrophy back to strength.

Morning Weight: 184 (+4 lbs total, +1 from last week)

THE WORKOUT

Flat Bench
255x4.5, 255x4 +1, 255x3.5 +1, 225x6 +2 (pause reps for last set)

Incline Bench
195x8, 195x8, 195x7.5

Incline dB Flys
40x13, 40x13, 40x13, 40x12.5 (yep, I failed at the peak of my flys)

Decline Cable Flys
30x15, 30x15, 25x15, 20x20

Concentration dB Curls
30x10, 30x10, 30x10

Preacher BB Curls
70x8, 70x8, 70x8

dB Curls on Incline Bench (simultaneous)
25x13, 25x13, 25x13

Tricep Cable Pushdowns (v bar)
65x15, 65x15, 65x13

Tricep Cable Kickbacks
20x8, 20x8 +3, 20x8 +3

FST 7 Training: Seated Overhead Tricep Extensions (rope)
40x14
40x13
40x12
35x14
35x13
35x12
35x13

Deep Stretching for ~4 minutes


NOTES
Weight is up 1 lb from last week, 4lbs total gain so far. I bumped my cals up to account for the additional weight, naturally.
Trying to ease my body into going heavy on flat bench again, looking forward to some nice strength gains.


DOSAGE
My question from previous post still stands: bump up from 6 to 9 caps now?

[Royd The Noyd]

You can try to increase the dose but your gains are decent thus far at 6 per day.

[AndrewNico]

You can try to increase the dose but your gains are decent thus far at 6 per day.

true. I kind of got impatient (noob mistake, I know). I'll just shift my evening dose to preworkout for the remainder of the 1st bottle.

off day today. arms and chest are still pretty sore.

[Royd The Noyd]

As you up your weight you can always increase even if it's just 1 more cap. I think 6 caps is good for 185lb'ers. About 9 for 200lb'ers. I used 12 for 4 weeks and gained a lot starting at 210lbs.

[AndrewNico]

As you up your weight you can always increase even if it's just 1 more cap. I think 6 caps is good for 185lb'ers. About 9 for 200lb'ers. I used 12 for 4 weeks and gained a lot starting at 210lbs.

Aye, still no need to bump up though. Slow gains = easier gains to maintain (regardless of the *I want da gainz now* mentality)

Tried out the preworkout dose today (3 caps with preworkout meal 1.5 hrs preworkout), I think I'll stick with this for the rest of the time.

Did legs today . . . PRs were there.

THE WORKOUT

Squats (down a bit past parallel)
340x3, 340x3, 340x3 (PR)

SLDL (I do DC style training with this exercise. one working set, 10+ reps)
315x12

Seated Hamstring Curls (just to make sure my hams were fried)
170x8, x8, x8 => yup, they were fried.

1 Legged Leg Press (plates / side)
2x5, x5, x5 => 1st time doing this. thought what the hell . . . pretty awesome

Standing Calf Raises Machine (rack = 20)
rack x10, x10, x10, 11x7 (5 sec down, 15 sec bottom, 2 sec up) => stretched the s**t out of my calves. feelsgoodman.

Deep Stretching for ~6 minutes


NOTES
Somewhat of a short workout today. I was pretty happy with my squats, definitely the strongest Ive ever been. SLDL properly pumped the heck out of my lower back, hams were killed, calves were on fire . . . good day.

[AndrewNico]

Had a pretty good lift session today. Some weights went up, others stayed about the same

THE WORKOUT

Incline Bench Press
240x3, 240x3, 240x2 +.5 (fuuuu, wanted that third rep) (PR)

Seated dB Shoulder Press
95x3.5, 95x2.5 (ugh), 85x6 (UGH, shoulders were just dead)

Hammer Strength Lat Pulldown Underhand Grip (plates / side)
3(+10lbs)x4.5, 3(+5lbs)x4.5, 3x5 drop 2(+25lbs)x5 drop 2x8 drop 1(+25lbs)x12 => lats & forearms dead.

Seated Smyth Machine Shoulder Press (weight added), needed to do more than 10ish reps of heavy shoulder presses
140x5, 140x5, 130x5 drop 90x8 => ah, much better

FST 7 Training: Side Lateral dB Raises
27.5x13
27.5x13
27.5x13
25x13
25x13
25x13
25x15 +8 assisted reps (delts = ruined)

Deep Stretching for ~6 minutes


NOTES
I keep feeling like I take out most of my energy on incline bench, so when I do dB shoulder press my body has limited energy i.e. the weight is staying the same. I might change my rep range on this day to 8 reps since Im going heavy and low reps on my shoulder/back day. The good news is that my incline bench is getting heavier, which is always nice .
I know some of you guys are like, HEY, you usually do CGBP on this day . . . WTF *******?? Due to feeling like I was going to die today, I opted to push CGBP to a newly formed arms day tomorrow. Should be good stuff.