MidwestBeast - 12 week Bulk -> Then Cutting to Single-Digit BF%

[MidwestBeast]

What's up everyone, I haven't been posting at AM all that long, but I have been lurking around here for a while. I've spent most of my time posting over at the USP forums, and will continue to do so, despite no direct ties to the company aside from loving the products that they make.

I just figured I'd start keeping a log out here as well, which will be a copy/paste from the updates I do over there, so there's no need to read both.

I won't go into too much detail in this initial post, as you can find all the information of what I've been doing up to this point in this log:

Beast vs. Body Fat - I GUARANTEE Victory - USPLabsDirect.com

And you can check out other info on me at my bodyspace - same handle.

The basics:

Age: 24 (25 this Sunday)
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 238 (up from 220 ~6 weeks ago, which was up from 208 ~3 weeks before that)
Lifting Experience: Going on 11 years of dedicated weight-training (with a focus on bodybuilding for just over a year)

For full measurements, you can check either of the other sites.

I'm currently in the middle of Week 6 of my bulk, which is going very successfully. For a list of ALL of my supplements and the breakdown of how much is being taken, please see my other log. The jist of it, is this: A-Stack + Pink Magic + TNA.

My initial thought was to run this bulk for 12 weeks. As I'm already nearing 240 lbs (my previous highest weight had been 230), I very well may cut this thing short at either 10 or 8 weeks. I'll judge it all by feel, but I am initially thinking I don't want to pass 250 until I've had a chance to cut again.

Training is AST's Max-OT training (this is my first time using it, as I'd used my previous bodybuilding split successfully for over a year - still was making gains weekly).

If anyone has questions or general comments, just let me know and I'll gladly address them.

[MidwestBeast]

Just got home from hitting chest and abs. Really good workout all around, but the one thing I wanted to mention was the new PR on bench press. Until just recently, I'd never broke 300lbs before. Today was:

325x6 / 325x5 / 325x5

Rest periods were 3 minutes exactly between sets and my spotter was only allowed to give me a pointer finger for help, which was only used on the last rep of the first 2 sets and slightly more help on the very last rep of the last set.

Chest is getting nice and swollen and it's great. My triceps are still sore from Monday's great workout, so I was a little surprised I did as well as I did today (and also considering I hit the gym at 10 PM last night instead of 4ish).

Mini Rant:

I really wish every individual had to go through a gym etiquette course before joining. I'm reasonably certain I've talked about this before, but today just had me on edge. There was a guy who was about 6'3" and probably 210-220 - not a small fella, but not real big. I'm guessing he was about 40. This guy would not even drop, but throw his dumbells at the end of his sets. He wasn't even lifting that much! He was doing like 55's on incline bench. When he'd finish he'd chuck them outward and ahead like it was impossible to gently drop them. I'm not gonna lie, when I'm using the 90's on shoulder presses, I let them drop on the way down, because it's too difficult to bring them down without ruining my shoulders. However, I don't throw them! I take my arms down with them to soften the blow. If that wasn't enough, he was curling with like a 10 and a 5 on each side of the EZ bar and would drop it at the end of sets too. Just incredible. It's particularly annoying with the dumbells since they're coated in rubber and half of them are breaking apart (one of the many things I dislike about my gym). Crap like this is the main reason. Oh, and I almost forgot - then he'd try to "toss" it into its place on the rack afterward! Heaven forbid you set it in its slot; no, let's try to throw it in there, miss and watch it fall. I was just waiting for the entire rack to collapse. I would've chewed this guy like no other if that happened.

Anyway, one day whenever I open my gym (lol ), my members will be taking an etiquette course / quiz first.

Hope everyone had a great Wednesday

[raulob72]

Bump! i will follow bro!!!

[MidwestBeast]

Bump! i will follow bro!!!

Glad to have you on board

[MidwestBeast]

239.6 lbs upon rising this morning (up 19.2 lbs in just under 6 weeks).

[MidwestBeast]

243 immediately after the gym (after bathroom and before shake).

Hit back and biceps tonight. Wasn't feeling like that great of a workout until I finished my last lift - 2 sets of BB curls. I actually went 15lbs lighter than my new PR on it, but it was after DB curls and my entire back workout - so it's to be expected they weren't as fresh.

I went with a bit of a wider grip and WOW it felt awesome. My arms were so swollen that it was hard not to be a D-bag and stare at myself and flex (but, I assure you, I did not...because I'm not a D-bag ).

155x6 twice and the pump was great (only AAKG pre, along with my USP line, but no actual pre-workout).

Bent over BB rows: 305x6 / 315x6 (PR)

Needless to say, I was looking ridiculously wide today. It's not all perfect - there's definitely some fat storage here, but it's minimal compared to the positive mass I've put on. Can't express how excited I am to see what stays there and how I look after the cut.

Legs in the AM.

[MidwestBeast]

234.4 this morning

Not sure at all what that's all about. Nothing like a 9-pound drop between mid-day weight and the next morning. If only I could get those results during a cut lol . I'll chalk it up mostly to water weight, since my meals have stayed the same (minimum of 450g protein / 360g carbs) and I even ate an entire Tombstone pizza after. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I'm not reading too much into it now.

Heading in to hit legs within the hour.

[MidwestBeast]

Squats: 415x6 / 425x4* / 415x4 (went a lot deeper on these)
Leg Press: 1,000x6*
SL Deads: 365x5 / 365x5*
Prone Leg Curl: 105x6
Seated calf raises: 270x8 / 270x9*
Seated solo calf extensions: 170x10

* = PR

[carpee]

i'm in beast

[raulob72]

Man great numbers bro!!

[MidwestBeast]

i'm in beast

Glad to see you around these parts

[MidwestBeast]

Man great numbers bro!!

Thanks, man!

[MidwestBeast]

Okay, so I didn't end up getting the measurements taken yesterday - turned out to be a busier day than I had initially planned for. After church, I ended up over at my friend's house poolside (perfect way to spend any day as far as I'm concerned) and fell asleep in a lounge chair at one point. By the time I woke back up and hit the grocery store after, I got home later than planned and just didn't have time to squeeze it in.

I'll plan on doing them tonight. When I was washing my hands a few minutes ago, I glanced over at a side mirror and my arms were looking much bigger. So, I hope the tape measure backs this up, because they're feeling big.

I've been eating clean for about 80% of the day and then making up cals and macros with not-so-clean meals for the remainder since I'd been seeing the weight dropping on the scale instead of increasing. I need to keep in consideration the fact that I'm running RC with all of this and also every other USP product I've got on tap tends to promote fat loss along with muscle building, so maybe the weight going down isn't as bad as I think. Basically, though, I want to gain as much muscle as possible right now. I'm willing to gain some fat along with it to ensure this. In the future, I won't be as willing. So, we'll see how this week goes and how the measurements shape up.

Planning on following the same lifting sets as I did last week for this week (week 7). 6-bromo will be done today and TNA will be out mid-week at some point. I have more bottles, but I think I will let it fade out for now and save those for another time.

[10bathroomsO]

im in bro

[MidwestBeast]

im in bro

Glad you're in, man.

[10bathroomsO]

hell yeah son! btw sick ass bench, you never broke 300 yet did numerous reps with 325 ? sick man

[MidwestBeast]

hell yeah son! btw sick ass bench, you never broke 300 yet did numerous reps with 325 ? sick man

Haha, thanks man. I was never one to try maxing out. I think I tried once on bench in high school like my 9 years ago and probably pushed mid-200s lol :P. But I never really saw the purpose of it and don't care about it from a bragging perspective.

I'd been using the same split for a full year with continued success (still adding weight on a weekly basis) that had a range of 4x12 and 3x15. I'm 6 weeks into the Max-OT training which is predominantly ranges of 4-6 reps with about 5-8 total sets per muscle group per week (so much less in terms of volume).

It's been pretty fun so far completely shifting gears.

[10bathroomsO]

hell yeah. the low rep should boost your strength pretty good if your new to it plus you already spit out high numbers so this log looks pretty promising, have you ever ran a cycle or all natty?

[MidwestBeast]

hell yeah. the low rep should boost your strength pretty good if your new to it plus you already spit out high numbers so this log looks pretty promising, have you ever ran a cycle or all natty?

Yeah, my body is responding really well to the new regime. And of course I'm running SCRX because that kind of weight scares me to death with my joints; particularly my knees that are both bad.

And I'm natural. Only thing is running E/C in the past before it wasn't a legal choice in terms of if I were to compete. Before I was introduced to USP's stuff, I actually bought a PH cycle, but it's still just sitting in a cupboard, untouched, haha.

[10bathroomsO]

yeah i was thinking about running a ph this winter, and then i was like nahhhh lol theres alot of guys running ph cycles and im neck and neck if not passed them in size and strength and i go natural, it has nothing to do with me thinking bad about them, ima just ride my natty till it runs out